In The Spotlight
by If Anyone Knew I Would
Summary: Bella’s mom became a famous actress. Her mom made Bella go into acting&singing so she could be famous too. Her mom wants her to marry someone rich&famous too, but what happens when Bella meets poor&unknown Edward Masen?AllHuman.FullSummeryInside.ABitOOC.
1. Bella Swan

_Bella's stepfather Phil became a famous baseball player when Bella was younger. With the spotlight always on her family, Bella's mom became a famous actress. Her mom, wanting everyone in her family to be famous too, she made Bella to take lessons to help better her. Now Bella is a rich and famous movie star and singer just like her mom wanted her to be. Now suddenly her mom wants her to marry someone rich & famous too… Mike Newton, a famous movie star who Bella hardly knows… but what happens when she meets poor and relatively unknown Edward Masen? Rated T for safety. All Human. A Bit OOC._

**I own no characters in here. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer, but steal my plot and I will find out and then you will have WISHED you listened to my warning.**

Chapter One

(Bella's POV)

I lay in my bed, face down, it was only 8:30 and my mom had sent me to bed. I was 16 for gods' sake, not 6. We'd gotten into another fight about what I was going to do after high school. She wanted me to continue with acting and singing, but I wanted to do anything but that.

I'd been shooting movies since I was 6 and singing since I was 13. I wasn't interested in then and I'm not interested in it now.

"Stupid Phil just had to get good at stupid Baseball, didn't he?" I grumbled into my pillow.

I heard a loud knock on my door, "If it's mom, Phil or anybody else, go away!" I yelled at the door.

I heard booming laughter. "Does that mean you're bodyguard can't come in?" Emmett asked.

I smiled softly, Emmett McCarty had been my body guard for one and a half years, and even though he was only a year older than me, he was incredibly good at his job.

I never liked any of my bodyguards, except for Emmett, but when I first met him, I hated him just like all the others. That lasted about five seconds though, because it's just too hard to hate Emmett. First of all when he walked through the door I was dead set on hating him, except I didn't know how old he was. I figured he'd be one of those old stiffs my mom keeps making watch over me, but since I could always sneak away from them and end up somewhere random, having the time of my life, which my mom is for some reason against, she decided to do something different.

I didn't expect him to be young. He walked through the door and introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Emmett, how are you?"

I remember I'd stared at him, no one ever asked how I was, so I told the truth, "Angry, surprised, and confused."

The strangest thing was, he smiled and said, "Huh, that's interesting, why are you surprised? Didn't expect me to be this young?" He'd flashed the biggest grin even when he asked me that, and all I could do is nod.

Then he proceeded to ask about me, he didn't go off on how he'd protect me no matter what, he actually was interested in talking to me. He didn't treat me like a boss or an obligation or a burden or was bummed he had to take care of me, or overly happy to take care of me, like my other body guards would have. He just seemed happy to talk and hang out with me.

When I finally got around to asking about him and his life he surprised me again by saying, "Oh," he had chuckled, "I'm going to go to school so I can train to be a manger… you know like for someone like you, but my parents want me to pay for it myself, so I figured I might as well be a bodyguard so I can be around people like you so that I can kind of know what their like… does that make any sense?" He asked with a laugh because he could see me trying to follow him.

"Ya," I had said, "It kind of does…."

He soon became the only bodyguard my mom could really trust with me, mostly because I didn't sneak off usually when I was with Emmett. Plus for some reason he was just really good at finding me.

"Ya you can come in," I finally grumbled after I'd pulled myself out my thoughts.

He smiled and flopped down on the end of my bed, "So, I know your mom banished you up here, so… I expect that tonight's going to be pretty boring… so… you want to watch a movie or something?"

I smiled and sighed, "I don't know, I kind of feel a little tired, I think I might just lay here and go to sleep early…." I said and kind of snuggled up in my blankets and whatnot. If this had been a few years ago, I might not have been able to trick Emmett into thinking that I was actually tired, but since mom put me though all these acting classes, well… let's just say it was a walk in the park from here.

He frowned at me, disappointed, apparently he really wanted to watch a movie with someone, or maybe he was just suspicious and was wondering if I was lying. "Okay, sure," he said, but I was sure he'd be listening very closely to see if I opened my window to sneak out tonight.

Of course, that means I'll just be extra quiet. After an hour, Emmett had only poked his head in once to ask if I wanted some water, subtly checking on me.

I smiled and accepted the glass and lay down after taking a sip. What Emmett didn't know is that I had my jeans and sneakers on underneath my blanket, but my blanket is so thick that he couldn't tell.

I texted my best girl friend Alice to ask her if she wanted to do anything when he left,

_To: Alice_

_From: Bella_

_Hey, you want to go to a really low-key teen club I know tonight?_

Alice was a really interesting person. She was an actress, a fashion designer _and _a model. Plus she's short; the chances of her being a model should have been 1 in a gazillion, but lucky for her she's incredibly persuasive. Although she doesn't sing, she does have a pretty good voice in her. The funny part is that she dropped her last name when she became a fashion designer. She said it was about how her design was just called Alice and that if she was known that well that she wouldn't need a last name. Although, I knew her name was Mary Alice Brandon, I knew she would kill me for calling her Alice Brandon or Mary, so it was just Alice.

She texted me back,

_To: Bella_

_From: Alice_

_Hmm… I don't know, I had a long day… tell me where it is and I might meet you there if I have time._

I give her the directions and told her I'd be there at around 10.

At 10 Emmett was replaced by the stiff who replaces him. I never would know if he would even bother checking on me, because in the instant Emmett was telling his replacement what I'd been up to all night I had quickly ripped off my pajama shirt and had thrown on the t-shirt I had hid under my pillow on. I pulled my hoodie out from under my pillow too and threw it on, pulling the hood over my head. I was out the window and down the terrace before Emmett was finished telling him he'd given me some water and that I'd gone to be after.

_Take that mom! Make me do stuff, and this is what you get._ I thought with a grin as I ran through the secret way though the hedge and ran down the alley.

I grinned and ran down to a busy street, "Taxi!" I called and got in. I told the driver where I was going and he stepped on it. When he dropped me off I paid him a little bit more than I should have, calling thanks and that he could keep the change as I got out.

I practically skipped over to the bouncer with a grin. He smiled at me, recognizing me at once and let me in ahead of people. There wasn't a huge line, so I wasn't that guilty for being let in ahead of people. Like I had told Alice, it was low-key, not many people came here.

_Ah, the perks of being well known…_ I thought as I headed into the club.

It wasn't really a teen club; it had a bunch of tables and booths, a small dance floor, a bar in the corner and a stage for the DJ, a band that could be playing here, people to sing karaoke, etc. Right now there was a band playing, but I wasn't really listening.

I headed over to the bar; they didn't serve alcohol and I didn't drink it so I ordered a coke. The bartender handed me an unopened can of coke and I went and stood by an empty booth. I was just about to go and sit there when I finally looked at the band.

My hood was still up over my head and I was thankful that no one had really noticed me yet, I didn't know if I had some psycho fans that would scream and point and bother me all evening.

I listened to the band, unable to really keep my eyes off them. There was the lead singer, with his guitar, he wasn't the best guitar player I'd ever seen but he was okay. He had these amazing green eyes and a really nice voice. His bronze hair was kind of ruffled and crazy.

The base guitarist had blonde hair and was really tall; he sang back up and had an okay voice.

It was the girl at the back that had me staring. She was really good at drums but I'd felt like I'd seen her before, but where? She had really long blonde hair and she was probably the prettiest person I'd ever seen.

Then it hit me, I'd seen her last month. I went to a fashion thing with Alice and she was one of the models.

I sat down in the booth and popped open the lid of the coke and took a swig. I listened to the song. It was pretty good; I suddenly couldn't stop staring at the lead singer guy.

My phone buzzing in my pocket made me jump out of my skin. "Hello?" I answered shakily.

"Bella! Where are you? This place is so awesome!" Alice's voice rang though my phone.

"Oh, ya, I'm in one of the booths. I love this band, and you'll never guess who the drummer is!" I said still in shock because I recognized her.

"Ya, I just noticed! I'm so talking to her afterwards!" She squealed on the other line.

I heard another voice that made me suddenly suspicious, "Alice hurry up and figure out where she is in this place!"

Emmett, oh, he was good at tracking me down.

I frowned, "Alice, is Emmett with you?"

"Ya, unfortunately," she said sounding like she was talking about anything but the fact that Emmett was there, "I can't believe it too, I mean I tried so hard to get them under control and all, you know, with the design but nothing. I mean seriously, it's actually really hard to get people on board with some stuff."

I giggled at Alice's attempt to look like she wasn't talking to me about Emmett.

"So, where are you? I can't see you…." Alice said.

"Okay, I'm in the booth on the top right corner but tell him it's the other corner," I sniggered. Knowing Emmett sooner or later he'll just do an entire sweep of the area, so I might as well have some fun with him while I'm at it.

"Okay, I'll see ya in a few Bells!" She laughed and I saw her and Emmett slowly going over to the other corner. I looked back at the band, they were singing a song I'd never heard before, they probably wrote it, and it was really good.

The green eyed boy kept looking at me, and I was wondering if he'd realized who I was, but something made me think he hadn't. He kept looking at me like he was trying to figure out who I was.

Suddenly two pairs of arms hit my shoulders and I jumped out of the booth and landed on the floor. I sat their frowning at them, while Emmett and Alice with laughing their butts off at me.

"Some friend you are, Alice, ratting me out like that," I muttered as Emmett pulled me up. She smiled at me and sat down in the booth, I sat down next to her and Emmett sat on my other side.

I realized just then that my hood had fallen down and I gasped as I looked back at the stage, the singer looked at me, something burning in his eyes, and looked away again. I pulled my hood back up.

"So, since your mom is freaking out I figure you might want some fun before you're grounded for the year." Emmett said trying to take a swig of my coke before I snatched it away and drank half of it before offering it to Alice, who gladly drank the rest.

"So, what's my other bodyguard doing right now?" I asked Emmett.

"Well, see I figured you'd sneak out, but you wouldn't while I'm here, because I actually mind to check up on you, so I told him to keep a close eye on you, so right now he's actually just guarding the door. So really… no one knows you're gone." He said with a smile.

"So, that 'mom is freaking out and going to ground me for the next year' is probably not going to happen?" I asked with hope.

"Nope, because I'm feeling generous tonight, but if you get caught in any photos, not my fault." He said.

_See this is why Emmett is my favorite bodyguard._ I thought and grinned.

"Oh my God, I can't wait to talk to Rosalie Hale after this. She is such a good model!" Alice squealed.

"Rosalie Hale?" Emmett asked with a frown.

"The drummer, I didn't know she was in a band!" She squealed again. "I can't wait to talk to her!"

I laughed, "We heard you the first time," I laughed.

Emmett was suddenly trying to get a good view of the drummer, "Oh, ya, I can see… how she would be a good model."

I laughed, "Of course you would feel that way."

"Oh, and I think that's her brother…" Alice muttered.

"Who?" I asked suddenly curious. Could it be that green eyed boy? I surly would have noticed him before….

"The base guy, the blonde one, he was at the fashion show with her. I noticed him 'cause he had this pained expression on his face and kept moaning and groaning at her about how he wanted to go home." Alice giggled, "Plus, you know, he's cute." She whispered that last part to me and I giggled in response. "I'm pretty sure it's Jasper. Rosalie introduced me," Alice muttered. Alice was always really good at remembering stuff like this.

"He started tripping over himself when he saw me. Apparently he loved our last movie," Alice giggled.

I laughed, "Is this during that time when you slipped off to the 'bathroom.'" I asked and she blushed, "which one though, the action-y one or the girly one?" I asked with a giggle.

"The Action-y one duh… I think… I'm not sure… I think so." Alice frowned, "I'm pretty sure."

Emmett laughed and I sniggered and the lead singer said, "Thanks everybody, you're a great crowd. See ya next week!" There was half enthusiastic clapping and they all started to get off the stage.

Alice squealed and jumped up and I followed her.

Rosalie saw us coming and I noticed my hood fell again, but I ignored it. She gasped at Alice and grinned and ran over. She smiled politely at us and said, "Hey, uh, what are you two doing here."

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and came to have a drink. We didn't know you'd be here playing! That's so cool!" Alice grinned at Rosalie. It was easy to see that she was confident around us; where as her brother had apparently been falling over himself at the sight of Alice.

"Hey, I'm Bella," I said politely.

Rose shook my hand and smiled again, "Rosalie… but I prefer Rose."

She hardly got her sentence out before I heard a girly scream and a buzz of voices, "Its Bella and Alice!"

I sighed, I can't go anywhere without causing a scene.


	2. Edward Masen

_I decided to have a bit of Edward's POV here to have his view on what just happened._

**I own no characters in here. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer, but steal my plot and I will find out and then you will have WISHED you listened to my warning.**

Chapter 2

(Edward's POV)

I was playing our music; Jasper on my left was rocking out on his base and Rose in the back on drums. I couldn't believe we hadn't been able to find a guitarist yet. I sucked, and I knew it. Well, I was okay, but I knew there were better ones.

I was looking out over the crowd as I played, suddenly someone caught my eye. It was a girl wearing jeans and hoodie, she walked to the bar and ordered a coke, I could see the shiny can from here.

Her face was covered by the hoodie and I just watched her. I couldn't really tell what was so leering about her. It was like she was calling me.

She went to sit in a booth, but before she did she looked at all of us, she seemed to stare past me for a minute before she sat down.

Jasper glanced at me; he does that throughout songs. Jasper and Rose were both my adopted cousins I guess. I was technically a foster child and now lived with a nice couple, Esme and Carlisle Cullen. Esme couldn't have kids so she took up me as a foster child. I kept my last name though; Rosalie and Jasper's parents were often away so they frequently were staying with us. They are twins and really weird. Their mom was Esme's sister.

Sometimes I felt like the odd man out. The only one now related to them, the youngest, only by a year but still. Not to mention that my real parents weren't exactly the typical 'bake you an apple pie and set it on the window' or the 'kiss you goodnight and tuck you in and read you a story' kind of family. There was a lot of fighting in my old family and there was definitely no love there. I had been taken from my house because of my dad, not because of my mom, but my mom had no time for me. There was just no time. When I was first brought to the Cullen's house we all knew I had so much resentment and anger against anyone, but they tried so hard to make me happy. When I was little I would stay up all night crying because I missed my mom and the Cullens were so much nicer.

It took me so long to get used to them, it was Jasper and Rose that kind of made it better. They knew how to talk to me, they didn't make me feel awkward or like an outsider.

While I was thinking and playing I noticed two people head into the teen club. One was a big really muscled guy; the other was a girl who was short and kind of pixyish. I recognized her from Jasper and Rosalie's movies. She was Alice. She had dropped her last name when she became a fashion designer, something about how her design was just called Alice. She pulled out her phone and dialed as she held it to her ear the girl with the hood jumped and pulled out her phone. They seemed to talking to each other and then the two walked in the other direction. The girl with the hood checked to see where they were going.

When she looked back at me I stared at her, but I couldn't look away. I wanted to find out who she was. I couldn't tell why, I just wanted to. Suddenly the two people from before scared the living daylights out of the girl and she landed on the floor, her hood falling off her head.

I nearly gasped, Isabella Swan. I should have known. She sat back down with her friends and she looked at me, I stared back. I couldn't believe I was so blind; Alice and Bella Swan were best friends. I didn't know what it was about that Bella girl, but I couldn't stand her. She pulled her hood back up.

Jasper was obsessed with Alice; I swear he's had a celebrity crush on her since he first was made to watch that chick flick that Rosalie made him watch when they were 9 and I was 8. I remember that, he had just said, "Wow, who's that!" and suddenly jumped up and sat close to the screen. I had laughed at that and Rose just rolled her eyes.

I couldn't tell what it was about Bella. She was just another Disney princess in my eyes. Maybe it was because she was doomed to get screwed up with all the eyes that were watching her, maybe I just hated her because she had everything that I wanted. She had made something out of herself; she had a mother that loved her. I mean, I knew Esme loved me but she wasn't _my_ mother, she was the mom that had replaced my mom.

Whatever it was, I couldn't stand her.

"Thanks everybody, you're a great crowd. See ya next week!" I called as we finished out last song and I checked my watch. Carlisle was going to kill us for being out so late. I promised I'd be back by 11:30 and it was nearly 11:20. We'd never get home in time.

We jumped off the stage and at the same time the girls jumped up.

They ran over to Rosalie, Bella's hood falling down again. Rose smiled politely at them like she does and said, "Hey, uh, what are you two doing here."

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and came to have a drink. We didn't know you'd be here playing! That's so cool!" Alice grinned at Rosalie.

Jasper elbowed me in the side and hissed, "Oh my God, it's her! I told you I met her." He gave me a grin and I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I'm Bella," Bella said politely and I frowned, I understand why she would introduce herself, but she sounded like she didn't expect Rose to know her, which was ridiculous because everyone knew her.

Rose shook her hand and smiled again, "Rosalie… but I prefer Rose."

She hardly got her sentence out before there was a girly scream and a buzz of voices, "Its Bella and Alice!"

Bella sighed, looking disappointed that she'd been noticed.

The tall muscled guy was at her side in a second.

Alice smiled slightly and said, "Sorry, our rep has come back and bit us in the ass again, huh?" Alice said to Bella.

Bella frowned, "Why, why?" She muttered and sighed, "Emmett, Rose; Rose, Emmett. Emmett's my bodyguard."

Emmett at the moment was making sure no one was bothering Bella and Alice.

Rose looked kind of shocked at the people trying to talk to Bella and stuff.

"Rose!" I called, "We got to go! Carlisle's going to be angry with me if we don't," I called.

"Oh, keep your pants on Edward, I'll tell Carlisle it's my fault," She said waving me off.

I sighed and Jasper pulled me over to Rose. "Hey Rose, I see you made some… well known friends…" He muttered.

Alice grinned at him, "Hey, I'm Alice, and this is Bella. What's your name again, you were at the fashion show the other day, right?"

Jasper nodded, "I'm-I'm Jasper," and turned to look at me, I could practically read his mind, and it went a little something like this:

_OH MY GOD SHE REMEMBERED THAT SHE MET ME!! _Then, he squeals like a little school girl.

I rolled my eyes at him and he gave me a look.

She smiled at him, "Nice to see you again. Who's this?" She asked politely motioning to me.

"That's our cousin, Edward," Rose said grin and ruffled my hair.

I rolled my eyes and frowned at her.

"Say Rose," Alice said turning back to Rose, "I never got your number, we should all swap numbers!" She said happily and thrust her phone at Rose who gave Alice hers. Once they were done Alice passed Rose's phone to Bella, and Bella gave Rose hers and Rose Gave Alice's back. I noticed Bella glancing at me every once in a while.

Emmett groaned; he was practically holding kids back from Bella and Alice, "Could you hurry it up."

"Alright, see you; we'll call you sometime soon, okay?" Alice said and Rose nodded.

"Come on," I muttered practically pulling her away from the two girls who now turned around and had to answer to the public.

As we packed up our stuff and piled it all into the car. Rose drove while I sat in the back. I leaned against the window and I saw them glance at each other. Jasper turned on the stereo and I wished he hadn't. Mockingbird by Eminem was on and at that little part of the lyrics that had always stung,

_But hey, what daddy always tell you? Straighten up little' soldier.  
Stiffing up that upper lip.  
What you crying' bout?_

I closed my eyes and tried to think about anything. I heard the sad words that were playing through the radio, and tried to block them out. I heard Rosalie smack Jasper and whispered, obviously hoping that I wouldn't hear, "What is wrong with you? This is the most freaking depressing song ever! Change it!"

I heard fiddling with the radio until I heard Rosalie huff and switch it off.

We parked and Rosalie called to me and I opened my eyes slowly, "What?" I asked a little forcefully.

"Oh, I thought you were asleep, so I was just trying to wake you up," She said looking flustered.

"Oh, sorry," I muttered and got out. I helped Rose and Jasper unload all the stuff and I walked out of the garage and into the house.

Rose and Jasper were right behind me but when I got into the house Esme and Carlisle jumped up and rushed over, "Where were you guys! It's nearly 12!" Esme was frightened, that was obvious.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I had to talk to these two girls I'd met at a fashion show and they wanted my number so they could call me." Rose said quickly.

Carlisle looked frustrated and worried and Esme looked like she was about to burst into tears.

I froze, "What's wrong?" I asked quietly.

"Edward, can I speak to you in my study?" Carlisle asked and I nodded slowly. He led me to his study and he told me to sit down. I was afraid he might tell me that I had to leave or something. I sat silently, "Edward, we just received… some very sad news."

I was shaking now; I was so afraid and worried. "What's this about Carlisle?" I asked quietly.

He sighed, "I'm sorry, your mother… she has died…." He said slowly.

My breath froze in my throat, no, was all I could think over and over again. The pain was crippling, "H-how?" I stuttered out.

He was silent for a minute, "I don't know if that's really important at the moment…." He said slowly.

I was frustrated I was suddenly standing and yelling, "How!" I practically screamed in his face.

He looked pained, "Your father… he beat her to death…" he paused and waited for me to react. "They caught him… but apparently he wants to find you…. That's why Esme and I were worried; we didn't know if he knew where you were."

My heart shattered in an instant and I turned before I could lose myself and do anything stupid. I walked out of the room Carlisle calling me back.

I was suddenly running down the hall and I pushed past Rose and Jasper and up the stairs. "Edward!" Esme called, she could see the tears running down my face.

I ran into my room and slammed the door and collapsed onto my bed and burst into tears. I curled into a ball and I heard the door open and Jasper and Rose sat on my bed and they started to rub my back and arm. I couldn't remember how long they sat there, with me crying, but I eventually drifted off to sleep.


	3. Slurpees

**I own no characters in here. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer, but steal my plot and I will find out and then you will have WISHED you listened to my warning.**

Chapter 3

(Jasper's POV)

I couldn't believe it; Edward's dad had killed his mom and could be after him now. Esme was not going to let him out of her sight, even though his dad is in jail.

Rose had been silent for so long. "What are we going to do? This is going be like when he first came…" She muttered.

I remembered that, he'd been so sad then, so troubled. I remember how you could still see the bruises and sometimes when he'd fall down or get hurt he'd be a lot more hurt than he should have been. He had so many fractured and broken bones back then and Rose and I couldn't understand why he was hurt. Esme had tried to explain it but we'd been only 8, so how would we be able to understand. Now it was so clear, his dad had beat him practically every day and he'd been so angry that it took us forever to brake his hard outer shell.

I sighed; I hoped he'd forget most of the horrors in his life over the last 9 years, but it seemed the longer it was the more he wanted to hold onto it.

Edward came downstairs at around 12, his eyes looking puffy and red, and sat on a stood by the kitchen. He just stared at his hands as he sat there.

Rose handed him a sandwich for lunch and waited for him to react. He just ate it and got up and sat on the couch and watched TV, but he wasn't really watching, he was just staring at the screen.

Esme came into the room and said, "Rose, Jasper, you two are going to do something with Edward today." We all looked at her in surprise.

We nodded and Rose's phone suddenly rang. "Hello?" She answered a little flustered. "Oh hi Bella," Edward glared at the TV when she said her name. "Um, I don't think I can do anything today… uh well…" She glanced at Edward and he gave her a look, half pleading half threatening. If Rose told Bella about his parents he'd hate her for eternity. "… I'm spending the day with my brother and cousin."

There was more talking. Her eyes lit up for a moment… "Really… Alice is going to one of your concerts and you've got extra tickets? Gosh Bella…" She glanced at me and sent a smile. "Oh, I can bring my brother and cousin? Hmm hold on I'll ask them." I could hear Bella laughing on the other end and Rose looked at us.

"No!" Edward hissed, "I don't want to go to her concert!"

"I'll go," I said, thinking about how Alice will be there. "She's got okay music." She actually sang kind of punk/hip-hop music so I was okay with that.

We both looked at him, we'd won, but Esme had the deciding vote. She frowned at us, she glanced at Edward. "I don't know… it seems like something you'd like isn't it Edward? It is music… I think you should go…." She said slowly.

He glared at the TV and then glared at us, "Fine, I'll go, but I won't like it." He grumbled at us.

"Yes!" Rose said jumping around the kitchen and started telling Bella we could go. She hung up and started dancing around the kitchen.

Esme suddenly was curious about who Rose was talking to. "Bella… Rose, what's her last name?"

"Swan," Rose said squealing loudly.

Esme looked like she was going to have a heart attack, "You know a famous movie star and singer?" She asked in surprise.

"And Alice, she knows Alice." I said nearly jumping up and down. _Calm down you freak!_ I thought to myself and I calmed down.

"Wow, where did you meet them?" Esme asked sitting down at one of the stools.

"Oh, I met Alice at my fashion show last month and I met last night when Alice introduced us." She said still dancing, "She was at my fashion show too apparently."

Esme and Rose started to talk about Bella and Alice and how they were really good in movies together.

I went and sat with Edward, "You want to play video games?" I asked cautiously. He sighed and shrugged. "… You want to go skateboard down to the gas station and get a slurpee?" I asked half hopefully; maybe if I kept asking if he wanted to do stuff he'd give in.

He shrugged, "Sure." He muttered in monotone and got up. I followed him and we got up.

Esme was suddenly aware of us leaving, "Hey! Where are you guys going?"

"Gas Station to get slurpees Auntie Esme," I called, "We're skateboarding there!" I called as we went into the garage.

"Hey, I'm coming!" Rose called running into the garage after us.

(Bella's POV)

I successfully made it back into my house last night without any trouble from my mom. I had a concert tonight with a bunch of other singers that I was friends with and the proceeds were going to help people after a recent earthquake.

Alice was over; she had made an outfit for me, her own design, obviously. She got me this cool shirt that had was brown and had two thin spaghetti brown straps across my left shoulder that combined into one strap. It had brown ruffles down the left side. She brought me some dark washed jeans. **(A/N: the shirt is on my profile)**

"Alice," I whined, "Do I have to put this stuff on right now? I want to go get a… a slurpee or something!"

Alice sighed, "Fine, let's get Emmett." She muttered, "Emmett!" She yelled, "We want to get slurpees! Can you take us?"

"Sure, are you guys dressed?" He asked from outside my room.

"Ya!" we bother yelled giving the door a look.

He threw open the door, "Okay, then let's go."

We walked downstairs and my mom got off the phone, she looked at me and frowned, "Why aren't you dressed for the concert? Where are you guys going?" She asked us in confusion.

"We're just going to just go quickly get slurpees Mrs. Dwyer," Alice said sweetly.

"Oh, okay, well be back soon," She muttered and when Alice turned she gave me a look that told me to be back soon.

I smiled as I walked out the door. I knew she hated the fact that I kept my dad's last name, and Alice loved 'innocently' reminding her that our names were different. I didn't have really any contact with him anymore, not since I had nearly drowned back in his home town of Forks. It wasn't his fault, he couldn't see me in the waves and tell that I was drowning, but when he did he ran out and helped save me.

Mom never really forgave him for not noticing that I'd been drowning, so she kind of forbids me from seeing him. She won the case that got her full custody and so now I never see him. It was just another thing in my life that she controls.

I promised myself that when I grew older I'd go back to my home in Forks and find him and tell him I love him. I wrote him a letter once, but I was never able to deliver it, mom found it and ripped it in her anger. I had kept my last name as a tribute to him, to tell him I still belonged to him, to tell him I still loved him, I was still a Swan.

I even wrote a song for him, I sang it at all my concerts and it was a huge hit song now. Telling him I loved him and I forgave him.

We walked down to the gas station that was a few blocks down and I headed in. We bought slurpees, Alice and Emmett showing as many flavours in it as possible. I poured just one flavour in it, so now all I had was a coke slurpee.

I turned around at the sound of Alice squealing, "Rose!" She cried and turned fast.

I saw Rose, Jasper and Edward, kicking up their skateboards and Rose ran in when she saw Alice.

Rose ran up to us and Alice jumped up and down and talking about the concert.

Jasper watched over to the slurpee machine and pulled out a cup, and two more for his sister and cousin. He threw one at Rose who skillfully caught it and at Edward who caught it with an upset expression. I could see a red outline around his eyes.

Jasper filled his slurpee in a similar fashion of Alice and Emmett. Rose wandered over to the machine still talking to Alice as she filled the thing. Rose looked up at me and started thanking me for the tickets to my show.

Edward wandered over and I was watching him and I was curious as to why he looked upset. Rose, Alice, Jasper and Emmett went to pay, Emmett took mine, saying he'd pay for it and I waited with Edward. He was standing staring off into space, not realizing the slurpee was about to overfill. His slurpee, curiously, was made in a similar fashion to mine.


	4. Esme's Reaction

**I own no characters in here. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer, but steal my plot and I will find out and then you will have WISHED you listened to my warning.**

Chapter 4

(Edward's POV)

I was filling up my slurpee staring off into space, thinking about my mom when my hand suddenly felt very cold and wet. I heard a giggle and a hand pushed my hand that was controlling the slurpee machine away. The hand's skin was so soft and gentle it was like an angel I looked for the person whose hand it belonged to. Bella Swan of all people was moving my hands away and put the lid on the slurpee and she smiled at me and I nearly gasped, it was such a beautiful smile. I shook my head and realized what I was thinking.

_Bella is bad, bad Bella. Bad Edward for thinking about her like that, besides… you're below her, she's better than you in every way, out of your league, you're out of everyone's league…,_ I thought and looked up at her again. "Thanks," I muttered.

She smiled again, "No problem, so… what's up?" She asked.

I sighed slowly, "Nothing really…" I muttered.

She gave me a look that told me she didn't believe me, "Now why do I have a hard time believing that?" She asked me with a small smile. I smiled only slightly, unable to tell her, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to… but if you ever want to talk about it I'm here…" She mumbled.

I smiled roughly, "thanks… but I'll be fine," I said walking over to the counter to pay.

"Okay," She said and seemed content with me not telling her, but then again I don't know her so maybe she was curious.

Rose came up behind me and said, "I already paid for you, come on slow poke, we got to get home before Esme calls the cops that we've been kidnapped or something…" She grinned and I tried to smile back. Inside I shuddered, if he wasn't behind bars, I could be in danger of that… and other stuff.

I took my skateboard from Jasper and left the store, the guy behind the counter saying in a board voice not to skateboard in the store.

"So, where do you guys live?" Bella asked Rose and Jasper while I waited off to the side.

"Well Edward lives just a few blocks down, like… way over there…" Rose said pointing in the direction of my house. "And we usually say with them, because our parents travel a lot, but Jasper and I have homes in New York and Seattle."

I sniggered, "Which is like way over there and way over there." I teased Rose and she nudged me with her elbow playfully.

I smiled only slightly at her, "Say, why don't you guys come over early to my house?" Bella asked with bright eyes.

"Then we can go to the concert together!" Alice squealed hopping up and down with glee. Then she froze, "Oh my Gosh! Can I give you clothes? I can get you to wear… like cool stuff and it'll be awesome, and you can keep it! Come on!" She squealed and jumped up and down.

We laughed and Bella said, "Well let them go home first Alice… they need to tell their parents where they are going…"

"You can come with us… if you want… that way you don't have to wait around for us…" Jasper said.

"I don't know… my mom might not let me go…" Bella muttered.

We all seemed to look at Emmett at the same time. He paused for a second looking a little awkward, "Oh, fine! Let's go." Emmett said pushing off the wall and we started towards my house. We had to skate slower to stay with the others.

"So how old are you guys?" Emmett asked randomly as we walked.

"16 in a few weeks," I called as Rose and Jasper said, "17 at the same time."

"Oh, we're 16 too… I turn 17 in a few months. Bella just turned 16 though." Alice chirped.

"Hey Emmett, we should call a car to pick us up from Edward's house…" Bella muttered to Emmett. "That way my mom won't kill me for being late."

I cringed but hid it well, but Jasper and Rose both whipped around to look at me, Alice raised an eyebrow at all of us but Bella seemed to notice our reactions.

"Hmm maybe…" Emmett muttered.

"My aunt can probably drive us. She loves you by the way Bella… but she should keep it under wraps until you're gone," Jasper said.

I snorted, "Esme's going to freak out when she sees Bella." Bella looked a little uneasy and Emmett looked like he was going to jump in front of Bella to save her from flying bullets any second now. I rolled my eyes, "She's not going to jump at you she'll just be surprised and flustered."

We came around to my house and I jumped up my board, "Esme! Carlisle?" I called as I opened the door.

Esme bounced down the stairs, "Edward, so glad you're back, you'll be happy to know that the station called from you're old town to confirm that you're dad is- oh… my… God…" She stared at the people coming through the door.

"Esme? Esme?" I said nervously walking forward quickly to make sure she didn't pass out and fall down. Just as her knees started to bend I gripped her arm to make sure she didn't and sent me a thankful look.

Bella and Alice smiled sheepishly, "Hello, I'm Bella and this is Alice," Bella said smiling sweetly.

"I know," Esme said breathlessly. "Um, I'm sorry, I'm Esme, Edward's my foster child, and Rose and Jasper are my nephew and niece." She stopped talking before she could start blabbering too much.

Alice and Bella smiled politely and they both said that it was a pleasure to meet her and shook her hand, Esme nearly had a stroke. They also both commented on her lovely home, making her nearly faint in my arms.

"Esme, maybe you should sit down," I laughed and she nodded wandering over to the kitchen as she sat down I realized she was starting to do exercises to not hyperventilate.

I smiled at her and Alice asked if Rose, Jasper and I could go over to Bella's house so that we could all go to the concert together.

Esme smiled and nodded, "Do you want a ride to your house?" She asked eyeing her keys.

"Sure," Bella said with a shrug. "That'd be cool."

"That would be very helpful… Bella's mom is very P.M.S.-y." Alice sniggered.

Bella rolled her eyes, "Okay, so my mom's not the traditional mom but she's fine." She said to Alice.

Emmett snorted and Esme jumped when she noticed him, "Hey I'm Emmett, Bella's bodyguard, and Bella that's a load of crud. Your mom is the furthest thing from sane I've ever seen… but then again I've never met a _completely loony_ person."

Bella rolled her eyes, as Esme said, "Well she's lovely in all her films." Bella nodded as if she was used to people saying that.

"I'll give you a ride now then; Carlisle will be home any minute. Edward, can I talk to you in the other room for a second?" Esme asked and motioned for me to follow her. I followed quickly.

She led me into Carlisle's study and closed the door, "Hey, I talked to the chief at your old town on the phone and he said your dad was going to jail for first degree murder and he's never, ever going to get near you ever, so I don't want you to worry, okay?" She asked rubbing my arm.

I breathed out a sigh of relief I had been holding in all day. I hugged Esme suddenly and she just held me for a little while.

"Okay, I'm okay. Thanks Esme, thank you so much," I whispered pulling away slowly.

She smiled at me, "It's no problem Edward, and you'll like the son I would have wanted. I love you, just like your own mother did."

I was silent when she said that, now that she mentioned it I wasn't so sure. I was sure she did, all my life I was sure, but she never, ever, _ever_ tried to get me back. Even at the beginning when I was wishing every night for her to come and save me from this weird family that was so strange. When I finally realized that this is how families were supposed to be I had a moment in my life where I didn't know if I wanted my mom to come save me, but in the end I always did want her to come.

Every birthday wish, every shooting star, every wish bone wish, it would always be so that she would come. I wanted her to come and tell me everything was going to be okay and she was going to take me far away from my father and keep me safe from him, but I live in the real world. She wouldn't have thought twice about coming for me. I nodded and smiled anyways, I knew better, but we'd be here forever if I told Esme that.

She brought me outside the room and the other smiled at us, "Okay, let's hit it," Esme said snatching up her keys.

I noticed Rose gravitating towards Emmett and she started to talk to him and Jasper and Alice were already in deep conversation, so Bella bounced over to me. "Hey," I said as I pushed off the couch and grabbed my slurpee, taking a big slurp and she smiled.

"Hey, I have to warn you," Bella started.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Alice is going to play dress up with all of you," Bella laughed, "so I thought I should warn you… because it can be hellish."

I smiled, an actual smile, not the crap that I usually smile. My lips twitch into a smile, but I actually cracked a real one.

She stared as I smiled, "You have a lovely smile by the way." She added as we walked out the door.

I smiled again at her comment, I felt like of embarrassed that she noticed the change in my smiles.

We climbed into Esme's van, and Bella told her the address. Rose sat in the front and Bella and I in the middle row and Emmett, Jasper and Alice got the back.

I realized that I was going to a concert on a Sunday night and I hadn't done my homework. I cringed, I turned around in my seat, "Jasper, can you help me out with a history assignment when we get back?" I pleaded.

He gave me a look, "Forgot you have homework… again?"

I frowned, "I've had a lot on my mind, okay?"

He rolled his eyes, "What's it about?" He whispered making sure Esme couldn't hear. Bella, Alice and Emmett were leaning in to hear.

"Civil war…" I muttered.

Jasper seemed to explode, "You forgot about civil war homework!?" He hissed at me. Emmett and Alice giggled and Bella smiled.

"I had a lot on my mind," I growled out.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine… I'll help you… you are obviously lacking in knowledge."

We spent most of the ride all huddled in the back and Rose complaining about not being able to hear us. Jasper explained to me a lot of stuff about the civil war and he was really elaborate. If I didn't know better I would have thought he'd been there.

We all piled out of the car when Esme dropped us off and I stared at the house before me. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen. It was something I'd never seen, it was so big and so fancy looking. Bella smiled at me and started towards the door.

I followed Bella as Esme pulled away and drove down the driveway.


	5. Embarrassed

**I own no characters in here. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer, but steal my plot and I will find out and then you will have WISHED you listened to my warning.**

**Warning: this chapter **_**does**_** have swearing in it. **

Chapter 5  
(Bella's POV)

I stepped into my house, with everyone following me, "Hey mom! We're home, and I bumped into the people who are going to the concert with Alice and me so we brought them over." I called.

She hushed into the room a smile plastered on my face, she was interested in whom we were bringing to the concert and I could see the shine in her eyes dull as she saw my guests.

"Well how nice, why don't you all go upstairs?" She started to turn towards the kitchen and Alice gave me a look as if asking if that was it and I shook my head slightly to the side. I knew my mom and any second now she's say, "Oh, Bella, can I see you in the kitchen… now!"

Oh, right on time.

I smiled knowingly at Alice and said, "Alice, uh, just go upstairs and try to find them something to wear, I'll deal with my mom."

I took a second to smile at Edward before I ran off into the kitchen and nearly into my mom.

"Bella what were you thinking?" She hissed at me.

"Whoa, mom, relax, don't blow a blood vessel, but just to clarify, what the heck are you talking about?" I asked, as if I _didn't_ know what she was going to yell at me about.

"You brought home two… maybe three, of the most normal average people I've ever met. Plus you invited them to the concert. What is wrong with you? What have I told you about status? It's everything; you can't just randomly tag along these kinds of people!" She snapped at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Mom, Rose is a model, and she was at the fashion show I went to last month. I invited Rose, but her aunt was making her do something with her brother and cousin so I figured they might as well come too."

She glared at me, "Fine, the girl is acceptable, but the boys! Are you mental? Have you completely lost your mind? Mike Newton will never even look at you if you're running around with… with… with the likes of them! They're probably stealing our toilet paper to put on eBay so that they can pay for food!" She snarled, looking like some sort of rabid animal.

"Mom, they have money, they aren't going to steal our toilet paper for eBay! Not everyone is obsessed with our family and no one has to be! I am so sick of you being so completely obsessed with all of this fame crap!" I finally snapped and yelled, "And what are you talking about Mike Newton for? Who flipping cares what Mike Newton, of all people, thinks of me? I sure don't! Why does it matter if he's looking at me? I don't want him to be! He's a stuck up snobby little brat and a pathetic actor!" I continued to yell and glare at her.

She glared right back at me, "I care, because I want you to grow up and marry somebody before I freaking die! Do you know how awful it would be if you didn't continue our family and get married and have kids!?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm only 16; I'm not looking for a fiancée! I'm not even looking for a boyfriend! Christ mom! I don't even like singing and acting!" I screamed at her.

(Alice's POV)

I headed upstairs fast, I got the feeling that this argument was going to be bad. I let them into Bella's room just as they started screaming at each other.

I sighed, "Emmett could you close the door," Emmett shut it quietly.

"What the heck is going on between them?" Jasper asked with a frown.

I smiled slightly, "Bella and her mom have a shaky relationship. All Bella wants in life is to go to high school and to be normal, but her mom makes her act and sing so that Bella can be famous like her. Her mom is completely obsessed with status, so she's probably yelling at her about bringing you guys over here and to the concert… no offense." I explained and they nodded slowly.

"Wow, I wouldn't have thought that…" Rose paused, "I mean you know how much Bella's family gets so much attention, I'm surprised people don't know…."

"Well, her mom makes sure that Bella never saying anything." Emmett said walking over to the door and opened it and there was still yelling so he closed it again.

"How? How do you make sure someone doesn't say something?" Edward asked looking confused.

Emmett and I looked at him, "Renee has ways… let's just say that…" I shuddered at the thought. Her mom was good; she knows what Bella loves and who she loves. If Bella talked about her messed up family first she'd never let me see her, she'd fire Emmett, the list goes on.

Bella burst through the door, murder in her eyes, "Stupid, old, callous woman," she growled.

I smiled at Bella, "Nice to see you again Bells."

"Shut it Alice," She muttered flopping down on her bed. "My mother is evil… I swear… she's like… planning some master plan to get me to marry Mike Newton."

"Ew!" Rose and I screamed at the same time while Edward, Emmett and Jasper looked blankly at us.

"He's a total geek! He is so mean too! When I met him he treated me like crap. Like… ew!" I squealed unhappily. Mike Newton was a really snobby actor. He was okay on the screen and in interviews, but when he talked to me, he treated me like I was nothing. He has no respect for anyone, but it is rumored that he got a crush on Bella the last time she was in a movie with him. Bella of course hates his guts but he doesn't care, he isn't used to being denied so he'll do anything to get her by his side.

"And she wants me to have kids! This is just like singing and acting. Stupid bitch," She growled.

"Okay, okay, everybody chill. I got to get you all dressed, Bella go change and I'll find something for all of you. Rose go ahead and look through Bella's closet and thankfully I came prepared for incase you all wore… like… sweats or something, not that you would but… you get the picture." I said and pulled a huge suitcase out from under the bed as Bella ran off to change in another room.

I handed Emmett a casual suit and he gave me a look, "You'll look so cool, all secret service-y. Please?" I pouted and he rolled his eyes and went to go change in the bathroom.

"Now Jasper, you caught me as a kind of casual guy so I got you this t-shirt and I think those jeans your wearing will do." I said and rubbed my chin as I evaluated Edward as Jasper ripped off his shirt and pulled on the one I'd gotten him. I took my time to glance at Jasper's body. Let's just say I was more than satisfied with it. "Hmm… I think that I'd like to see what you look like in black instead of dark blue Edward, and throw on these jeans. I like them better," I laughed when he looked a little confused, seeing as he was already in jeans.

"Uh, where should I change?" He asked.

"Just go to the other room down the hall." I said as I walked over to help Rose pick out something fabulous.

(Edward's POV)

I walked down the hall and tried a door; it opened so I figured it was safe. I stepped into the room and froze; Bella was standing in the middle of the room, her bare back to me as she tried to do up the zipper on the back of her shirt.

She saw me in the mirror and jumped as I covered my eyes, "Sorry, I thought this room was empty." I reached for the door.

"Uh, Edward?" her voice was cautious.

"What?" I asked in the same tone.

"Uh, can you, uh, help me out here for a second?" She asked still sounding embarrassed and cautious.

"Uh, with what?" I asked embarrassed and my hand still over my eyes.

"Could you zip up the back of my shirt? I can't get it…."

"Oh, no problem Bella," I answered breathlessly. I slowly took my hand away from my eyes and she was still facing away from me. I walked forward and took the zipper and slowly pulled it up. My hands grazed her back and she shivered slightly.

I breathed slowly; I could see her hair sway as my breath hit it. I quickly pulled it up the rest of the way and I stepped back. "Done," I said and she turned and looked up at me.

"Thanks," She muttered.

"No problem."

"No, well yes, I mean I really couldn't get that stupid zipper, but I mean for treating me like everybody else."

"Who says I am?"

"Well… at least you seem like you are. I don't want any of this; I would trade everything I have to be you."

I shook my head, "No you don't want to be me."

"Yes, I do. I don't want my mother, I don't want to sing, I don't want to act and I want to make my own choices." She said her eyes watering.

I was still shaking my head, "You don't understand; you want to be Rose or Jasper, but not me." The horrors of my life passed though my head.

"Why would I not want to be you?" She asked watching me closely.

I couldn't take it any more, I snapped and said, "Because my mom is dead and my own father killed her and he used to beat me until I was taken away!" I shook my head; I couldn't believe I'd blown up like that, especially in front of Bella. "I never wanted to be taken from my mom but they did anyways…."

She froze and stared at me. "Whoa," was all she could say.

I shook my head, "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that… it's just… I'm so tired of people saying they wished they could be me and so sick of people being sorry for me…. Whatever you wouldn't understand…" I muttered.

Suddenly she was hugging me and I just hugged her and closed my eyes. I was kind of comforted by the fact that she actually cared about me and my family problems.

She pulled away, "You know, people don't have to understand to care… right?"

I shrugged, "Most people don't do both."

She sighed and said, "Well at least that got one question out of the way…" she muttered.

"What?" I asked feeling confused.

"Well, I was going to ask you about why you were a foster kid… but you only had to tell me if you wanted to." She said looking kind of embarrassed, her checks turning the sweetest pink.

"Uh, okay… well… I have to change… or Alice will probably pin me down and change me for me." I said and shuddered. She laughed and left.

I shook my head and let out a huge sigh. "What the hell Edward… what the fucking hell is wrong with you…" I muttered shaking my head.


	6. The Concert

_**Sorry for not posting in forever! I've been working on some stuff and it's been sucking up my time like… like… sponge towels LMAO**_

_**Happy Reading!**_

Chapter 6  
(Bella's POV)

We all headed into the limo later and I laughed at Edward and Jasper's stares. "Pretty nice, huh?" I asked with a grin.

They nodded with grins.

"Okay, first thing's first, when you see a bunch of people screaming at me and stuff, just act natural."

When we arrived at the concert, the chauffeur opened the door and there was a whole lot of screaming. I gave a fake grin and waved my thumbs back and forth at Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmett before stepping out and I nearly covered my ears at the noise.

I waved at everybody as I stepped out onto the red carpet that was before me, smiling broadly as the chauffeur helped get the others out of the limo. I turned to the others and Edward and Jasper looking kind of awkward. I smiled and waved at people, "Just act natural," I reminded them.

A bunch of reporters came to talk to me, this concert was huge, and considering I was one of the main people setting it up I had to do a lot of talking before and after I sang.

"Bella, who are your new guests on the carpet this evening," a reporter asked me suddenly.

"Oh, this is Jasper and Rosalie Hale and Edward Masen, some of my new friends and, of course, we all know Alice," I laughed when she grinned from beside me bouncing and waving into the camera, "Actually Alice and I met Rose at that fashion show last month that Victoria Secret held, and we met Rose's twin brother Jasper and her cousin Edward the other night when they were playing for the new teen club on the sunset strip, uh, I believe it's called Twilight." I smiled at them, "Rose plays with them, and they are pretty great if I say so myself."

The reporter laughed, "Awesome, so I assume you're all wearing something by Alice right?"

"Of course, at the very least she picked it out," I answered with a laugh.

"Well I know you helped set up most of this, how does it feel to be part of such an incredible event, and to be helping setting it?" The questions continued like this for quite a while until I had to get in and get ready, but there was one that stuck out and kept with me.

"So, I hear Mike Newton is helping out in this too, what's he doing for this event?"

I smiled slightly, "Oh, I believe he's giving a speech about… well you'll see, but I hear it's really good," I said I knew I had to keep some mystery to the event so the reporter just smiled like they do, the half nice, half evil smile.

When I went in I left Alice to show Edward, Jasper and Rose around and check out what being backstage was like.

I noticed the 1st performer was about to start so I had to go quick and make sure that my crew was ready for my songs. I was the 2nd performer and I passed by a bunch of the other singers who passed by me. I tried to get a good diversity going with the singers so I was bumping in all kinds of people. My crew was ready so I went to get ready to go on.

(Edward's POV)

This was like a really crazy dream. Everyone was really nice and everything was really high quality. Plus the most beautiful and sweet girl in the world has made all this possible.

_Stop it Edward! You've got no chance there! _

We walked around with Alice as we watched people sing and stuff from backstage.

I grinned as Bella ran on stage, I laughed at how she greeted her audience, her hair was all messed up so and she was pretending to breathe heavily. "Sorry, I had to stop a fight behind stage… crazy divas." She laughed, she flipped her hair over her head and back, making it instantly neat, "Speaking of which," She said and launched into one of her songs called Divas.

It was basically talking about women who were really snobby and stuff. I figured she was talking about her mom when she sang, rather angrily, the verses about status and hunger for fame.

She was good. She held the audience's attention and every time she finished a song people cheered for what seemed like forever.

When she bounced off stage she was grinning so broadly and shining so brightly she could block out the sun.

"You know for someone who doesn't like singing, you sure look like you love it," I said with a laugh.

She grinned and shrugged, "There are parts I like and parts I hate."

I smiled and I heard a voice behind me say, "Nice job Bells."

I turned and standing behind me was Mike Newton himself. Bella's smile fell so fast that I nearly laughed, "Hello Mike, glad you could make it." She sounded like she was anything but glad.

He glanced at me, "Who's you're friend? I've never seen him before… nor have I probably heard of him."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm Edward, her friend, thanks for addressing me as if I was here. It's a pleasure to meet you too." I said and held out my hand.

He stared at it as if I had just offered him a dead skunk, "Sorry, I don't shake hands with total nobodies."

I dropped my hand, "Well, that's okay, because I don't really shake hands with people who have no respect for others."

He gave me a look like I was mental for talking to him like that and said, "I don't believe I was even talking to you."

"No, you were just talking about me."

"Guys! This is an event for people who were just in an earthquake, this is not a showdown. Do that one your own time." Bella interrupted.

Mike gave me a look like he won and I rolled my eyes, "Mike, you're about to introduced, so expect you to get out there, talk and get off. Okay?" Bella said sharply and he just nodded and waited by the curtains.

Bella grabbed my hand and led me away from Mike. "Sorry about him…" She muttered.

"Bella, its fine," I laughed, "I go to high school, the whole experience is practically a course on how to deal with jerks."

She laughed and grinned up at me. "Edward you're hilarious."

(Bella's POV)

We were walking and suddenly Edward burst out in hysterical laughter.

"What?" I asked looking around.

"Look at Emmett and Rose!"

I looked around for my bodyguard and I found him. His lips were being practically sucked off by Rosalie.

I put a finger to my lips and walked towards them. "Okay, who started this one? Emmett seriously you should stop telling my fans that if they kiss you they get my autograph." I joked and they jumped apart.

"What? Huh… n-no Bella… we were just… she had a… and we… why are you laughing?" Emmett said flustered.

Rose burst out laughing and I said, "Emmett relax, you can kiss whoever you like, but you kind of need to protect me from any psycho fans who might jump out at me." I sniggered.

He nodded and Rose took his hand and we wandered around trying to find Alice and Jasper. They were probably in a closet somewhere doing God knows what….

We found them at the buffet table and they were having a conversation over punch.

"Hey guys you'll never guess who was lip-locking in the corner…" Edward grinned and Rose glared at him.

They stared at Rose and Emmett. "What?" They both said innocently and poured themselves some punch.

I glanced at Edward and I saw his emerald eyes shining back at me over the punch bowl. I poured myself some and Edward took the ladle thing from me and his touch lingered on my shin as he brushed by my hand. I glanced at him and he quickly looked away.

The concert went smoothly and I was so pleased. I'd been worrying that something would go wrong, but so far it was perfection!

When it ended we left through the same door we'd entered through, when we fought through the crowds and reporters and managed to get to the limo and told the driver to step on it was when I finally relaxed.

"See Bella, told you nothing would happen!" Alice giggled patting my knee as I lay my head back against my chair.

"What? What did she think would happen?" Edward asked Alice.

"She thought something would go dramatically wrong, but I told her it wouldn't and I'm never wrong!" Alice said sounding very proud of herself.

We laughed at her and we drove Edward, Rose and Jasper home. I dropped Alice off at her humungous house and Emmett and I rode the limo home.


	7. Getting Ready

**Chapter 7  
(Edward's POV)**

The next day I turned on the TV and it was talking about the event that I'd been to. I saw Bella's perfect face and smiled, before frowning. The reporter was remarking about how Bella had brought us to the concert. Apparently people were wondering about if there was anything going on because people had seen Rose and Emmett kissing and I was hanging out with Bella and Jasper and Alice were hanging out together.

I suddenly realized that Rose was growling at the TV. She started muttering profanities about the media and I just nodded my head in agreement.

"Who're they going after now?" Jasper asked coming up beside us and suddenly started growling when they started talking about how there were rumors about Jasper and Alice being together.

I switched off the TV, "I say we ignore all of it," I muttered.

"Agreed," They both said at once.

The day was spent lounging around until someone got bored (for all that want to know, it was Jasper), and called Alice and Bella.

Alice wanted to go clubbing, Bella wanted to go too, but suggested we all go for dinner too because she'd been having a crazy day and was starving.

Emmett wasn't on duty tonight but Bella called in a favour and he was going to come with us instead of her other bodyguard.

Alice said that Rose should come over to her house to get ready and that we should wear something club worthy. Bella was going to be over at Alice's anyways because they were having a sleepover so it was all good.

Bella said she'd send Emmett over, because she would be okay at Alice's house.

When Emmett arrived we greeted him and he said, "Okay men, tonight we have to wear something that will kill those ladies."

We just laughed and when to find something 'smoking' according to Emmett.

**(Alice's POV)**

I knew what everyone was going to wear and I was so excited. I had found the best thing for Bella. It was that blue that looked simply lovely on Bells and it had thick straps over the shoulders. It had an empire style top. It would go to just above her knees, and I swear if she argues, I'll put it on her myself.

Rose was harder to pick, I knew she'd like something sexy, but I didn't want to go overboard. We were, after all, still pretty young, but Bella was almost 16! She should wear something kick ass tonight. Rose, being 17, should wear something extra crazy, but not too revealing.

That's when I found it, it was a red halter dress and you would be able to see the tops of her boobs. I squealed and jumped around the room thinking about how awesome they'd look.

I went to search for what I should wear that's when I found it. I screamed in joy and someone yelled if I was okay, it was my mom, "Yes! I just found my outfit!" I could hear her laughing from up here but I ignored her

I jumped up and down holding the pink multicolour plaid pleated buckle skirt. It was red and pink and so cute. I would wear a white tube top with it and I squealed again, I could hardly contain my excitement.

My thoughts drifted to Jasper and I slowed down my jumping. I was slightly afraid of what would happen between us. After all, my last boyfriend had seriously broken my heart. He'd hurt me deeply and it still hurt sometimes to think about. I just hoped that Jasper wouldn't be like him; I knew Jasper wouldn't do what my old boyfriend did to me. I didn't know how, but I knew he wouldn't.

**(Jasper's POV)**

I was wearing jeans as I rummaged through my close to find a descent shirt. I suddenly let out a groan and flopped on my bed. Edward came in wearing jeans and a button up shirt with a few of the top buttons undone and his hair naturally crazy.

"Need some help?" he asked and I just groaned from the bed and slid onto the floor.

He laughed, "Just put something on, Emmett's being impatient."

I groaned, "But I need something that Alice would like," I banged my head against the frame of my bed.

"She won't like a huge bump on your head," he sniggered.

I growled at him, "Shut up Edward."

"Just put on some jeans and a shirt. It's not that hard," he said.

I made some weird noise and Edward laughed more. He sighed and went to look through my shirts, "This is so weird," he kept muttering, looking for something for me to wear. He threw a t-shirt at me and said, "Put it on and get downstairs." He rolled his eyes before leaving.

I looked at the white shirt, it had this weird blue circle things and it was really weird and crazy and fun. I smiled, I loved this shirt. I threw it on and ran downstairs.

"Nice," Emmett said, playing with his keys. "Let's hit it!" Emmett shouted and we left in Emmett's jeep.

We headed off to get the girls.

**(Edward's POV)  
**

Jasper was fidgeting like I'd never seen. "Jasper would you relax? Alice is totally in love with you." Emmett said and Jasper just about died.

"Really? Did she say that? Are you sure?" He said leaning over to the front to talk to Emmett, we were both in the back seat.

He laughed, "No, but I know Alice pretty well and she's giving you that look she gives guys she likes."

"Guys! Plural? She likes lots of guys!?" Jasper practically screamed looking horrified, "Oh my God! What if they are all popular and good looking and-"

I stared at him; it was kind of funny watching him flip out over his semi-imaginary competition.

"Chill dude, I meant when she went out with that movie star a few years ago." Emmett said glancing at Jasper like he was insane.

"Oh I hated him, Ian Walters." Jasper growled, "He wasn't good to her, I would have been a much better boyfriend."

I laughed, I remembered when Alice got a boyfriend, he'd thrown the biggest fit I'd ever seen, but it was true. Ian wasn't a good guy; apparently he cheated on Alice with some girl that Alice already didn't like. It was pretty sad because I had gotten the feeling that Alice had really liked him.

"We know Jasper," I responded, I'd heard this over and over for the last couple years when he ranted about Ian.

"Dude, you've got it bad for Alice," Emmett chuckled, "What about you Edward?" He asked me.

"Huh?"

"You and Bells seemed to hit it off a bit yesterday." Emmett hinted.

I shook my head slowly, "I don't know. I guess I like her."

"Well Edward, if you're guessing, I suggest you don't go too fast. Bella is really quite delicate, and I'd hate to have to kill you." Emmett laughed, it was a joke to him, to kill someone, but I turned pale.

"Emmett, watch the killing jokes, would you? Edward's not really good with the subject." Jasper said bluntly and I glared at him.

"Why? I'm just kidding around…" Emmett said looking at me in the rear view mirror.

"Well his dad-" Jasper started.

"Jasper!" I hissed and Emmett raised an eyebrow at us. I sighed,_ Oh hell_, I swallowed roughly, "My dad… he kind of killed my mom," I mumbled.

Emmett slammed on the brake at a light and whipped his head around to look at me, "Are you fucking serious?" I nodded slowly. "Shit man, I'm sorry, that sucks."

I tried to shrug it off, "I'd rather not talk about it. You can go." I said motioning to the light and Emmett started driving. We arrived at Alice's house shortly after.

**(Rosalie's POV)**

I arrived at Alice's house, it was huge. It was even bigger than Bella's house, and I thought that was the biggest house in existence.

I knocked and Bella and Alice answered the door. They pulled me inside at once and Alice dragged me up stairs and I happily followed.

Bella walked into Alice's room 5 seconds after us, "Wow, that 5 seconds of extra time it took to walk up the stairs instead of running will seriously put a dent in us being on time for the guys," She said with a bored expression. Alice and I laughed.

Alice's room was a haven of pink and white. I was almost sure that if something wasn't pink or white in here she would have painted it, or at least got someone else to paint it.

She gave me a dress and I fell in love with it when I put it on. "This dress… is amazing." I said, still not really believing I was wearing something this amazing as I came out.

They grinned at me and I twirled for them. Alice squealed and jumped up and down. "Bella, you're turn!"

The afternoon went on like this and when we were waiting for the boys Bella looked at me, "How's Edward holding up by the way?"

I stared at her; _she couldn't be talking about that could she? Why would he tell her of all people? I figured he didn't like her, but Edward is a weird guy…._ "What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I mean about his parents…" She mumbled. "He told me about them… I just wanted to be sure he was doing okay."

"What do you mean about his parents? What about his parents?" Alice asked jumping up and down on her bed.

I glanced at Alice, "Well… I have no idea how Edward told you about his parents because he doesn't tell anyone about them… but you got to promise me you won't tell Edward I told you about them or he'll kill me."

They nodded and promised.

I sighed and started, "Edward's dad used to abuse him when he was younger and then recently his dad beat his mom to death so he's been on the edge of depression for the last couple days."

Alice stared at me, "Really? Holy crap, that's crazy. Is his dad like… loose?"

"No, he's locked up, but I don't know for how long…" I said chewing on my nail.

They nodded, "I think he's okay though, he's gotten better since we were little… but please don't tell him I told you, he'd skin me alive." I said in a serious tone.

"Don't worry, Rose, we won't tell a soul," Alice said locking her lips and throwing the imaginary key over her shoulder. We all burst out laughing as the doorbell rang.


	8. Goin' Clubbing

**Hey, everybody I'm going on vacation on July 26th and I'm not going to be back until the 17th of august. So I won't have time to update until I'm back. SORRY!! The song Bella and Edward sing is on my profile.**

**Just So You Know:****  
Bold is Edward singing.  
**_Italic is Bella singing._**_  
Both is them together._**

**Sorry for any mistakes/spelling errors that will probably be there!**

**Chapter 8  
(Edward's POV)**

We waited at the front door as Alice, Bella and Rose ran downstairs to get the door.

Alice flung the door open and I think all of our mouths dropped.

There stood the three girls and I couldn't look away from them, Bella in particular. She was wearing this tight fitting blue dress that had straps that went over the shoulders. It was beautiful, she was beautiful.

_Stop staring!_ I hissed at myself but I didn't stop.

"Wow Rose, you're gorgeous," Emmett said and if it was anyone else saying that, or if we weren't distracted, Jasper and I would have shot him a look for saying that.

She smiled, "Thanks Emmett, you're beautiful too," She teased and he laughed. He held out his arm and Rose wrapped her arm around his and he started to lead her to towards the jeep.

Jasper fumbled for a few seconds before he said, "Hey Alice."

"Hi Jasper," She said with a cute grin.

"Uh, um, may I escort you to the jeep?" He asked with a hopeful light in his eyes.

"You can escort me anywhere," she flirted but I could tell she was pleased with his gentlemanly manor.

I smiled at him as he took Alice's hand and led her down to the jeep.

I smiled at Bella and she beamed, "Hey Edward."

"Hey Bella, should we go?" I asked her and she nodded and closed the door. She walked beside me and I fought the voice that told me that I was not worth her time and that she would betray me.

I blamed my dad for thinking these thoughts but I couldn't blame everything on him. I couldn't mask the truth by blaming my dad.

I looked down at the ground as I walked and I felt her hand on my arm, "Edward? Are you alright?" She asked me.

I tried to smile, "Ya, just fine."

_How can she like you? The son of a monster. The monster in you will hurt her. You'll hurt her. She'll hurt you… maybe not like I did, but she'll find a way. You need to get away from her. The bitch will ruin your life. She'll ruin you._ I refused to believe my father's voice echoing in my head.

"You sure?" she asked looking at me with an anxious look.

"Bella, I said I was fine." I said tightly and she seemed surprised by my outburst but dismissed it.

_Told you_, I could almost hear him sneer. I fumed in my own anger and depression and tried to push it all away and focus on the beautiful girl walking beside me. Emmett honked the horn, trying to tell us to hurry up.

"Sorry for getting angry with you," I whispered.

She smiled softly at me, "Its fine," She whispered back as we approached the jeep.

She let me help her into the jeep and climbed in after her. On the way to dinner I kept glancing at her and smiling and she would blush and look away. There was a huge space between us, even though everyone else was like glue to everyone.

I wondered what was going through the amazing head of hers. Rosalie glanced at me and I smiled slightly at her before looking down. I think she noticed the space.

She frowned at me and sent me a look that meant 'move over.' I shot her my famous 'leave me alone' look and she glared back.

We parked at a restaurant and we all climbed out.

I helped Bella out and we walked into the restaurant a small space between us. Jasper shot me the same look as Rosalie had and I looked away from him. I heard him whisper something to Alice and I sudden was pushed into Bella. She tripped and I caught her, "Jeez, Bella, I'm sorry," I looked up to see Jasper smiling at me. I was going to kick his butt for that one.

Bella giggled from in my arms, "It's okay Edward, me falling over we inevitable and was going to happen some time."

I laughed and helped her up her feet. "Come on, they're waiting," I said. I held the door for her and she grinned.

We ate a pleasant dinner; the waitress kept staring at us as if we were Gods, even though the only goddess at the table was Bella.

After dinner Alice started bouncing in her seat about going back to that teen club that we all met at, Twilight.

I was pretty excited, but I was a little worried. From the schedule that we were given to tell us when we were playing I noticed that tonight was Karaoke Night, which meant that Jasper and Rose will made me sing for sure. No doubt Bella would be pestered into singing as well, and considering the way they've been acting, they'll make us sing together.

_Fantastic,_ I thought only semi-sarcastic. Singing with Bella would be amazing, but I was always a little worried about getting public attention.

Emmett drove us there and we got out. Bella waved at the bouncer and he let us in right away.

"You know him?" I asked her.

"Well, we've met, but I don't really know him," She said with a smile.

Rose and Emmett went to dance right away and Alice and Jasper went to see what songs they could get to play. I smiled awkwardly at Bella, "Wanna get a seat?" I asked cautiously.

She shrugged, "Okay, I'm not much of a dancer," she said over the music.

"Want anything to drink?" I asked her.

"Coke, please," She said.

I went and got two cokes. We sat in a booth and drank them and just talked. Suddenly Alice was with us, Jasper at her side. "Bella, you got to sing this song!" She yelled over the music.

"What?" Bella shouted back in surprise.

"Karaoke, come on!" she urged.

"Alice, I'm relaxing, I don't want to-"

"Please?" she said giving her a puppy dog pout.

"I have you Alice," She said getting up.

Alice clapped jumping up and down. I got up too, Jasper grinned evilly at me. "You do realize you have to sing after right?"

I groaned, "I hate you Jasper." He just laughed.

Bella and Alice were over by the DJ guy controlling the karaoke people. He nodded to me, I knew him, and he was the DJ who took over after we played. His name was Adam and he was pretty funny and cool. I headed over after them.

"Ya, she'll sing Fences by Paramore." Alice said happily.

**(Bella's POV)**

_Oh God,_ she's going to make me sing that. Could this night get any worse? First Edward is all awkward around me and now she's going to make me sing a song that's like my freaking anthem.

Suddenly Jasper looked like he had a mischievous plan, "Alice wait," He said and whispered something in her ear.

She grinned evilly and looked at me.

_Oh no, this is not good._

"Actually, scratch that. Bella and Edward are going to sing No Air by Jordan Sparks and Chris Brown," she said grinning like a mad woman.

"What?" Edward and I both said in surprise and I blushed like crazy. _I'm never going to live this down._ Plus I didn't exactly love that song.

"Ya, you are," Alice said giving us a both a look that showed there was no arguing.

"Okay, okay," Edward said holding up his hands in surrender, "If Bella doesn't mind singing that, I'll sing it."

She smiled, "See Edward cooperates Bella," she teased me and I rolled my eyes.

"So, is that your final choice there?" The DJ asked looking like he was going to burst out laughing at our little conversation.

"Ya, can they go next?" Jasper asked.

He nodded, "I'll call you up when you can go." We went back to our seats and waited to be called.

When the person on stage stopped singing and jumped off the DJ called us up, "Hey everybody, we've got some special ladies here tonight, say hello to Bella and Alice!"

I sighed and Alice smiled lightly at me. Alice and I stood up on our booth seat and waved at everybody who was going crazy. We plopped down into our seats again.

"As per Alice's orders, Bella and Edward, the lead singers from a band that plays here every Friday… you may want to write that down, he's got a hell of a voice, not to mention that he's too hot for you crazy kids." He paused and Edward's head fell into his hands as we laughed. "They're going to sing us a little something," He said and the crowd cheered, although I was sure most of them had no idea who the heck Edward was.

I got up and Edward followed. Edward picked up the mike, "Adam, I'm going to kick your butt for that comment." He laughed, I guess he knew him and Adam just laughed at Edward.

I laughed at Edward and picked up my own mike, everyone was still screaming and cheering.

Once they calmed down a bit Adam started the music and I started to sing.

_Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air_

_If I should die before I wake  
It's 'cause you took my breath away  
Losing you is like living in a world with no air  
Ohh  
_

I glanced at Edward as I sung; he was so cute when he was embarrassed.

**I'm here alone, didn't wanna leave  
My heart won't move, it's incomplete  
Wish there was a way that I can make you understand**

He smiled slightly at me. Breathtaking, is the only way to describe it. I sung my heart out at this part. I could feel my heart inside my chest telling me that the words I sung were how I really felt about him. I wasn't sure how I felt about that though.

_But how do you expect me  
To live alone with just me  
'Cause my world revolves around you  
It's so hard for me to breathe_

Edward joined in with me at the chorus; I could see some sort of emotion was playing in his eyes.  
_**  
Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air  
Can't live, can't breathe with no air  
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there  
It's no air, no air  
Got me out here in the water so deep  
Tell me how you gonna be without me  
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe  
It's no air, no air**_

_**No air, air (Ohhh)  
No air, air (Nooo)  
No air, air (Oh a)  
No air, air**__  
_  
I stopped singing so I could hear Edward's voice for his part. He really did have a beautiful voice.

**I walked, I ran, I jumped, I flew  
Right off the ground to float to you  
There's no gravity to hold me down for real  
**

He smiled at me the whole time he sang and I could feel my blush coming back now. _Damn_, I thought, I knew I liked him, but did he have to be this perfect?

_But somehow I'm still alive inside  
You took my breath, but I survived  
I don't know how, but I don't even care _

I felt a little breathless as I sang my part, but I was able to keep my voice steady. I looked into his beautiful green eyes. Suddenly I could tell the emotion in them and it made me want to sing louder, I wanted the whole world to know how I felt about him.

_**So how do you expect me  
To live alone with just me  
'Cause my world revolves around you  
It's so hard for me to breathe**__  
_

We sang together, looking at each other now.

_**Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air  
Can't live, can't breathe with no air  
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there  
It's no air, no air  
Got me out here in the water so deep  
Tell me how you gonna be without me  
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe  
It's no air, no air  
**_**  
**_**No air, air (Oohhh)  
No air, air (Oohhh)  
No air, air (Nooo)  
No air, air (No more)  
It's no air, no air  
**_**  
**_**Ohhhhh baby  
Ooohhhhh It's no air, no air  
Hey (Ohh) no air (Ohhh)  
Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh**__  
_

I was on cloud nine and I was so happy. I wanted him to tell me that he liked me and I wanted him to take me out and treat me with dignity and be a gentleman and show me that he cared for _me_, not the famous girl I was.

_**Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air  
Can't live, can't breathe with no air  
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there  
No breathing (No breathing)  
Got me out here in the water so deep  
Tell me how you gonna be without me  
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe  
It's no air, no air**_

_**Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air  
Can't live, can't breathe with no air  
It's how I feel whenever you ain't there  
It's no air, no air**_**  
**

Edward stopped singing; his green eyes bore into me as I kept singing.

_Got me out here in the water so deep_

I sang but I couldn't breathe, his beauty was too much. How ironic, I couldn't breathe and here I was singing this song.

**Tell me how you gonna be without me**

Edward sang his part staring me in the eyes. I swear I was going to faint. He looked a little breathless too.

_If you ain't here, I just can't breathe  
_

We started to sing together and I reached out and took his hand, it was like I could breathe again, I took a deep breath and sang softly with him.

_**It's no air, no air  
No air, air (Ohhh)  
No air, air  
No air, air  
No air, air**_

When we ended cheers erupted around us and I squeezed his hand he smiled at me and his hand squeezed mine back.

I swear I could have died of happiness right there.

"Whoa! That was hot," Adam said and called out, "I think we'll leave the karaoke for a while. I doubt anyone wants to follow that!" he said and I laughed.

Edward looked pretty happy too. Adam put on some music and walked over to us. "You guys were amazing!"

I blushed, "Thanks."

"Adam," Edward raised an eyebrow at him, "What was the entry for me for?" He asked looking kind of embarrassed about it.

"Oh Edward don't be so skittish, you know I was just joking around." Adam said almost harshly. Edward gave him a disapproving look but dismissed it. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Swan, but I've got to get back to my sound board before they deduct me pay for ignoring my duties for to long." He teased and went over to his thing and started shuffling through songs.

"He seems nice," I said smiling slightly.

Edward smiled and shook his head, "He's a really great guy, but way too much energy for one guy to handle."

I laughed, "How very Alice," I said and he laughed.

"Ya, very Alice," I agreed.

"What's very me?" Alice asked coming over to us. "You guys were great!" She practically screamed.

"Thanks Alice, considering we were forced into doing that," I said with a smile.

**(Edward's POV)**

Singing with Bella was like nothing I'd ever experienced. It made me realize how much I liked her. She was so great and happy all the time. She was so sweet and gentle, she forgave me when I was being an ass and treated me like an equal.

How could I have ever thought she was just another diva? She was beautiful in every way and I wanted so badly for her to be mine. I wanted to be the one she called when she was sad and I wanted to be the one she kissed. I wanted her to be the one who comforted me when I had a bad day. I wanted to be the one who held her and told her she was perfect and just love her.

Although I didn't know why she liked me or if we felt the same way right now I didn't care.

"I saw Adam talking to you, how's he doing?" Jasper asked when we sat down at our booth. He was so considerate about people.

I shrugged, "He seems fine, over the divorce I guess," his parents had gotten divorced a few months back and he was actually acting mopey for a while.

"Well aren't you guys just all full of sunshine," Alice said shaking her head, "Everyone's just going to have a sob story, huh? Come on Jasper, let's dance." She said pulling him over to the dance floor.

"What did she mean by that?" I asked with a frown. As far I knew she was the only one who didn't know about my parents.

Bella shrugged, but I knew she was hiding something, "She knows doesn't she…" I said trailing off.

Bella bit her lip, "Maybe."

I sighed, "Fantastic." I really didn't mind too much, I mean, everyone knew but her, and now she did. She was bound to find out eventually.

"Sorry," Bella said, "I know you don't want everyone to know."

I shrugged, "She was going to figure it out eventually. Emmett seems not to be able to keep his mouth closed so it was only a matter of time."

"Emmett knows?" She asked, looking surprised.

I nodded, "Everyone now knows."

She smiled up at me, "Well, not everyone."

"Well, everyone that I care about knows," I said.

"Oh, so… how many people know?" She asked me.

"You, the rest of our little group, Esme and Carlisle, my school councillor knows my record, and that's about it," I said as I nodded.

She nodded too, "What? No girlfriend?" She asked.

"Do you honestly think that people actually like me at school?" I said almost darkly. I shook my head, "My friends are pretty much Jasper and Rose and a few random guys who talk to me every once in a while."

She looked shocked, "Why? Why don't people like you? You're one of the greatest guys I've ever met."

I shrugged, "People generally shy away from people who are different. Plus people tend to not want to deal with me on my bad days… and I usually have bad days."

"Bad days?" Bella asked her eyes wide and doe-like.

I nodded and looked down, "I get really angry and depressed sometimes," I saw her nodded, "I blame school though, I'm usually happier when I'm not there," I said trying to lighten the mood.

Bella laughed a little, but not enough to lighten the sad look in her eyes.

"Ya, so… no girlfriend…." I paused, "Do you have some sort of secret boyfriend that the world doesn't know about?" I teased.

She laughed, "No," She paused and looked up at me, "But I wouldn't mind a boyfriend…." She said and I was surprised, that was the closest thing to flirting I'd heard from her.

"Really now?" I said bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Mmhmm," She said slowly.

I smiled at her and I didn't realize that our hands were once again intertwined. I wasn't sure what to do with my hand either pull it away or keep it there, so I just pretended not to notice.

Bella looked up at me with a smile and I looked down at her. A smile creeped it's way onto my lips. I was content in staring into her eyes; we both leaned in, our lips were nearly touching when she suddenly gasped as her can of coke slipped through her fingers. "Shit," We both said as it glanced off the table and splashed the both of us. We instantly shot away from each other.

I quickly got the can and set it on the table. "I-I'll get a napkin or something," I said and rushed off.

I went over to get napkins from the bar and suddenly Jasper was with me, "Hey, what happened?" He asked me. He looked a little disappointed over something, I wondered what.

"Bella dropped her drink and it got all over us," I muttered and tried to ignore him.

"Hmm, ya, I know, I saw that part, but I mean you two looked like you were about to kiss."

"Ya, I know…" I said and I could hear the longing in my voice.

He laughed lightly, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up and back over there."

"I can't go back there now," I hissed at him, "She's never going to kiss me after that!" I hissed and sat down on a stool by the bar and let my head fall into my hands. I felt Jasper sit down next to me, _oh dear God, here we go,_ I thought knowing I was in for a lecture from Jasper.

**(Bella's POV)**

I groaned and sat back, tears at the edges of my eyes. I had nearly kissed Edward, and I felt so bad for getting my soda all over him. I didn't really care that I got soda all over my dress that Alice had forced onto me.

Suddenly Alice was with me. "Bella, what happened? You nearly had him!" She whispered.

Tears fell from my eyes and I said, "I don't want to talk about it, he'll never like me now." I whispered back.

Alice wiped away my tears and said, "Bella, Edward likes you, I can see it in his eyes. So what if you spilled your drink all over him. Jasper knows him, he says that Edward may be stubborn and thick headed, but he likes you. A lot," She said confidently.

"Alice, you're a good friend," I whispered and I reached to hug her.

"Whoa, I don't want to get sticky," She teased and I shook my head.

"I'm sorry for messing up your dress," I said sadly.

She laughed, "You actually look sad about that, besides it's _your_ dress."

"So… how are you and Jasper doing?" I asked her. I knew she liked hi, but she was a little worried about having another Ian Walters situation.

She suddenly grinned, "Bella," She grinned so broadly I thought her face would break or something, "Jasper asked me out, and I said yes!" She squealed.

I stared at her, "Congrats Alice!" I said truly happy for her. She looked so happy and I couldn't help but feel happy for her too.

"Here comes Edward, I'll leave you to it," She said getting up and pretty much danced over to Jasper who was sitting at the bar.

Edward sat down with a small smile, the one he usually wore, except for when he smiled that beautiful crooked grin. I recently noticed that he only smiled that grin for me.

He handed me a bunch of napkins and we started to clean up the table. "Hey, I'm sorry for pouring soda all over you."

He smiled his grin and said, "Its okay." He looked down at me at the exact time I looked up at him. His hand brushed mine and I felt like there was electricity flowing through us.

My mind made just there was nothing in my other hand this time. My hands were empty. _Good, I don't want a repeat of that,_ I thought as Edward slowly opened his mouth.

"Um, Bella," He pulled back slightly and I was a little disappointed, I nearly started crying again. He didn't want to kiss me after all. He probably didn't even like me, for once Alice was wrong.

"Bella? What's wrong?" He asked suddenly surprised.

I hadn't realized that my tears had started to fall. "Oh, sorry, I'm just…. Please, just continue with what you were going to say."

He hesitated, "I'd rather you not be crying for me to say this." I rolled my eyes and he was suddenly brushing my tears away. "Okay, see Bella," He took a deep breath, "I have to say this before I chicken out and I'm really sorry if you don't feel the same but I really like you and I'm really sorry this totally ruins our friendship-"

"Wait, what?" I cut him off. Hope swelled in me, could he really feel the same as I feel about him?

"I really like you Bella," He said looking down at me with smouldering eyes. "But seriously, if you don't like me I'll understand, seriously…" He kept going but I let his words go through one ear and out the other.

I could have fainted with happiness right there. He looked upset; I suddenly understood why he was upset. He thought I didn't like him.

"Bella, I'm sorry, I'll… I…" He looked down, his face contorted with pain and sadness.

I shook my head and he looked up at me. "Edward, you blind fool," I said and reached up to kiss him. I placed my hands on his face as my lips touched his. He suddenly started to kiss me back. My hands went to his beautiful hair and his hand went to the small of my back, pulling me in closer.

Suddenly there was a flash of a camera and I felt anger rise in me. I pulled back to see who took my picture, but of course they were already gone.

"Damn," I muttered, "Edward."

"Yes Bella," He answered I could hear the cautious tone in his voice.

"We're about to be the most known couple since Brangelina," I said, but I smiled up at him, "Strangely I don't really mind."

He laughed, "I don't care if everybody takes my picture… well I do… because of my dad and I'm paranoid, but if that's the cost for being with you, I'll take it."

I smiled at him, "You're amazing Edward."

"If I'm amazing you're amazing times ten," He whispered in my ear.

I smiled, "So… since the paparazzi are going to be on our tails all the time, can I call you my boyfriend?"

He laughed, "You can call me whatever you like."

I heard Alice shout in annoyance I knew they got her too. Shortly after she stomped over to us with Jasper, "Did they get you too?" She asked me.

I nodded, "Well… boys you may have gotten yourselves into something you can't get out of," She said. "Welcome to our lives."

"Where's Rosalie and Emmett?" I asked her, "I haven't seen them all evening."

"I think they're dancing but they might have taken off," Jasper said with a snigger.

"I don't think so, they know we need a ride back and Emmett is technically working right now," I said shaking my head.

Suddenly Emmett and Rose were with us, "Did you guys see the paparazzi guy? I can't find him anywhere." He said, "He got our picture and took off." We all nodded and Rosalie looked angry that he'd taken her picture.

"How'd he get in? The bouncer should have made sure he didn't get in," Alice said.

Emmett shook his head, "He was a teen, he wouldn't have known."

"What did he look like?" Edward asked, "I didn't get a good look at him…" he said trailing off.

"That's because Bella kissed you," Jasper teased and Rose and Emmett gaped at us in surprise.

"Edward the prude kissed someone?" Rose asked looking shocked. Edward threw her a glare.

"Bella the innocent started a kiss with someone?" Emmett looked just as shocked. I gave Emmett a look.

"He had… darkish skin… black hair." Emmett tapped his fingers on the table as he thought. "Pretty tall, probably he was 16."

I nodded, "Whatever, doesn't matter, they would have found out eventually."

"You're mom is going to kill you," Alice sniggered. I groaned and let my head fall against Edward's shoulder.

"Well kids, it's late, we should be heading back," Emmett said looking at his watch. We got up to leave and Edward held my hand on the way out.

It was strange, all my life I'd been told that if I dated anyone 'less than me' they'd just be with me for my name, but when I was with Edward I knew didn't have to worry, I didn't know how or why, but I just knew Edward wasn't like that.


	9. News Travels Fast

_**Hey everybody, I'm back from Europe! woot! It was amazing and to all those who live over there, you've got an amazing home... but I like mine better lol.**_

_**Here you go because your patience deserves a brake!**_

**Chapter 9  
(Edward's POV)**

I smiled at Bella the whole way though the ride home. I knew that her mom was going to angry with her; I knew that the whole world was going to wish to be me, but I didn't care. I wasn't with her for the name or fame. I was with her because she was the most wholesome, amazing, intelligent, caring woman I'd ever met.

I knew I'd have to face the masses tomorrow at school. Jasper, Rosalie and I hadn't gone today because we were up late and the whole disaster with my mom and Esme wanted us to just relax and calm down. When Emmett dropped us off at home I waved to Bella and she grinned back as they drove away.

Jasper grinned at me, "Say thank you," he said almost forcefully.

I sighed, "Thank you Jasper."

He smiled and opened the door. Rosalie looked confused but ignored us like she usually does when we don't make sense to her.

Esme looked away from the TV to smile at us, "Hey, guys, how was your night?" She asked with a small smile.

"Fine, Esme," Rosalie said with a smile and went over to sit with her and watch TV and I could hear her telling Esme what happened.

I decided to disappear up the stairs before they started gossiping. Jasper followed and turned to his room and went in.

I went to my room; it was right next to Jasper's. I showered and changed before crawling into bed and waited for sleep to come.

That night I had nightmares. I couldn't stop picturing my father and my mother fighting. I kept seeing my father striking me and hurting me. I could see myself lying on the floor beaten and broken, my blood slowly and silently seeping from my wounds. My father smiled evilly down at me and pulled his leg back to kick me again, his leg was swinging forward when it was suddenly all ended.

When I opened my eyes Jasper was there shaking me awake, "Edward, are you alright? I had to wake you up before you started screaming or something. You fell out of bed and were like… thrashing around on the ground." I noticed for the first time that I was on the floor, my blanket tangled around me.

I stayed quiet, my mind screaming at me just to curl into a ball and shut him out.

"Edward? Seriously, Edward, are you okay?" He asked worry in his eyes.

I breathed slowly and nodded, "Y-ya, it was ju-just a bad dream," I muttered and untangled myself. I knew better though, those weren't just figments of my imagination; those were just memories that broke free from where I caged them at the back of my mind.

Jasper frowned; I think he could see the fear in my eyes, "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"It's the same as usual…," I muttered as I threw my blanket onto the bed. When I was younger I had nightmares almost every night about my old family. It usually ended in me screaming till the others came and woke me up. I was thankful that Jasper had heard me fall out of bed before it could get that bad. I hadn't had really bad nightmares since I was 13 and I didn't really want to break that record.

He nodded and we sat down on my bed, "Are you going to be okay?" He asked me.

I nodded my head vigorously.

He rubbed my shoulder comfortingly before nodding and saying, "Are you going to be able to sleep?"

I was silent, I slowly shook my head. When I was little and had nightmares Esme had to stay with me for hours, hugging me and comforting me, before I could drift to sleep, if I drifted to sleep again.

Jasper nodded and said, "Well it's nearly 5, do you want to go get ready and then we can get an early start on the day?" He asked me.

Jasper was so caring about other people. "Okay," I smiled, "I'll see you downstairs in 5, okay?"

He nodded and left, I caught the anxious look in his eyes. I think he was worried about leaving me alone, but I didn't really think about it. I changed and went downstairs.

We ate breakfast and checked our bags and it was only 5:30 in the morning. "There's nothing on TV at this time," Jasper muttered as he flicked quickly through the channels and switched off the TV.

"Want to play video games?" I asked, I wasn't really a fan of video games, they were okay, but it was more of Jasper's thing. A grin spread across his face and nodded. We played and I lost track of time.

When Esme came down the stairs and looked at us with confusion and asked, "How long have you two been up?" I was surprised when I checked the time and it was 7:30.

"Five," Jasper answered his eyes on the screen.

"Why?" She asked sounding surprised and confused.

"Nightmares," Jasper answered without thinking and I elbowed him hard in the stomach, "Ow, sorry," He muttered.

Esme rushed over. She hugged my shoulders from around my back, making it kind of hard to play, and whispered in my ear, "Are you alright?" I nodded my eyes on still on the screen. She kissed the top of my head and Jasper's before going to make herself breakfast.

**(Bella's POV)**

I rolled over and nearly fell out of bed. Mom hadn't found out about Edward and me, yet. From the look of things no one had. I even Googled myself and the others and it didn't come up… yet. It would probably be around the world by tonight.

I texted the others to tell them that it hadn't been released yet. It was nearly 9 so they, other than Alice, should be in school. I ground my teeth together at the thought. I had to be home schooled because my mom was a psycho and she thought normal school was 'below me' or something.

They all texted me back shortly after. Emmett's was the first to show up.

_To: Bella_

_From: Emmett_

_Ok, Thanks, I figured it wouldn't show up until tonight, but thanks Bells. I'll see you when I come by later for my shift._

My day brightened considerably at the thought of him coming over later to watch over me. Although I hated having a bodyguard Emmett was at least fun and I could do stuff without feeling like I was being watched, although his constant teasing did annoy me a little.

_To: Bella_

_From: Alice_

_Hey Bella! Thanks for the warning! I wasn't sure, but ya, it'll be up at least by tonight. I'll see you at that interview about that new movie later okay!?_

I sighed; my mom had set up yet another interview for the movie Alice and I were in. At least it was with Alice, she usually makes it fun. I smiled at Alice's text, only Alice could be loud over text. She used exclamation marks as often as she could. I texted Alice back that I would see her there. When I sent the text to Alice it was interrupted by Edward's text.

_To: Bella_

_From: Edward_

_Okay, thanks Bella. Hey, do you want to go out later? I already miss you. School is so boring and annoying. Talk to you later._

I sighed as I read his text. Edward missed me, and he wanted to go out later. I was on cloud nine. I texted him to tell him I'd be away at an interview later today and I didn't know when it would be over, and that I'd call him later. That happiness deflated slightly when I got a text for Jasper.

_To: Bella_

_From: Jasper_

_Hey Bella, thanks for telling us. Rose and I were a little worried about that. I need to talk to you about Edward. He might be a little off today if you see him… he had one of his nightmares last night and it usually puts him in a mood, just wanted to warn you._

I frowned, Edward was upset about something. I wanted to ask Jasper what the nightmare was about but Rosalie's text arrived.

_To: Bella_

_From: Rose_

_Hi Bella, that's good news I guess. Edward is being more mopey than usual. It's getting on my nerves. What's up with that? Oh well. Talk to you later._

I was just finishing telling Rosalie that I didn't really know what was up with Edward when my home school teacher showed up so I had to work. My teacher left at noon and I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. It was nearly 1 when my mom yelled at me to get a move on from at the bottom of the stairs.

I ran downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt. My mom pursed her lips at my clothes but decided not to make me go up and change. Apparently we didn't have time for that.

When we arrived I ran off to find Alice and she grinned at me when she saw me. The interview was in front of a live audience so it was usually pretty fun to see people's reactions to stuff. The interview started and it was pretty fun, I was a little self conscious because of the camera but I didn't really mind.

The movie we were in was a chick click and it had some romance between Alice's character and another guy character.

Of course halfway through the interview the reporter, Jessica Stanley, a big time entertainment reporter, had to get sidetracked and asked us about our lives. Jessica kind of teased Alice and asked if she had her eye on another lately.

Although Jess wasn't much older than us, only a year or two, she was so full of herself and really annoying. Plus she talked _a lot_; I guess she chose the right career path.

Alice laughed her wind chime laugh and said, "Actually…" She looked over at me. A slow grin spread across my lips.

Jessica grinned suddenly, "Come on Alice." She said playfully nudging her with her elbow, "Who's the lucky guy?"

"Well we both have new men so to speak," Alice laughed lightly and I smiled. The crowd behind us cheered and seemed to radiant excitement.

"Oh, really? That's so fantastic, who are they?" Jessica asked.

Alice grinned, "Well I just started dating him recently and he's a really nice guy." Jessica was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

"Come on, Alice, who's your lucky guy?" She urged.

"Jasper Hale," Alice said with a smile. The crowd cheered and I laughed softly.

Jessica's face flashed with surprise, "Really? He's one of your new guy friends, right?" We both nodded, "And you Bella?"

I smiled and I caught sight of my mom slowly shaking her head, a severe look on her face. "Edward Masen," I said with a grin. The crowd cheered again.

Jess looked like she might hyperventilate, "Am I the first to let the world know?" She asked.

"Well, we officially got together with them just yesterday so… ya," Alice said almost as excited as Jessica.

"Well it's been fantastic having you girls, I know this movie will be as amazing as your others. Hopefully Jasper won't be too jealous of your on screen romance Alice." Jess teased and Alice laughed and I could tell she was starting to get annoyed with her teasing jokes, not that she showed it.

We both hopped up and left the stage together. Alice linked arms with mine as my mom came charging towards us. "I can't believe you two! No warning whatsoever… you just go out there and say that. I can't believe you would get into a relationship with that… that low life!" She hissed trying to make sure people wouldn't hear her. I silently prayed our paparazzi stalker was stalking us right now and was hearing this.

"Mom, I don't care, I like him, deal with it," I said bluntly.

She glared at me, "Fine, but this won't last," She hissed. I just rolled my eyes at her and she stomped off.

Jessica came over to us after her little reporting show thing ended, "It should air later tonight at like… 7 so you can watch it then," She said and walked off.

"That was weird," Alice muttered and I sniggered. My bodyguard hadn't noticed us going off the side and we slipped away.

We left the studio and I checked the time. "Let's go meet the others at school and go hang out from there!" Alice said happily as we ran to her car and she quickly drove off.

**(Edward's POV)**

I'd been in a bad mood all day because of the nightmare situation, but the day was getting better. When I got the text from Bella I was so happy I actually grinned, the kid beside me actually did a double-take when he saw me.

I was a little saddened that Bella might not be able to do anything but I smiled at the thought of talking to her later.

I met Jasper and Rose in the hallway and we made our way towards the parking lot. I noticed that there was a large crowd of people gathering out in the parking lot and I saw a yellow Porsche sitting there.

My eyes went wide as I noticed the short black haired pixy girl in the driver's seat. Bella sat in the passenger seat, laughing at something.

Jasper grinned and walked quickly over to the car. Rosalie and I followed him closely.

Alice grinned and waved ecstatically at Jasper and jumped out of the car.

That was a big mistake. Everyone who was standing around trying to get their attention suddenly swarmed her and she was practically swallowed by the crowd.

I could see Jasper's expression darken a little as he went in there after her. Being extremely tall, he towered over the rest of them as he pushed most of them aside.

Bella sat in the car laughing and I went over to the car. When I was by her door she unlocked it and being the gentleman that I am I opened the door for her.

She immediately flung herself into my arms and kissed my cheek, I didn't need to look at my classmates to know that their mouths were hanging open, "How's it going Bells?"

She thought about it for a minute, "Boring mostly, I had home schooling and an interview…. Sorry, we kind of blew the secret wide open," She laughed.

I rolled my eyes, "It was already pretty much known."

She grinned, "And my mom got pretty pissed off about me telling everyone that I was dating you." I shook my head with a smile as she purposefully said that loud enough for the people around us to hear. I think I heard the loudest collective gasp I've ever heard. I could practically feel the news traveling.


	10. James

**Chapter 10**

**(Edward's POV)**

We went over to our house to hang out after school. Bella's mom sent her body guard over in effort to make it less fun, but what she didn't realize was that she was sending Emmett, and God knows that Emmett couldn't spoil an evening if he tried.

Emmett being there made Rose's evening though; she threw herself into his arms as soon as he waltzed through the door. Jasper and I had to look away so that we wouldn't be scarred for life from seeing Rose and Emmett make out in the front entry.

Bella and I were always touching somehow that afternoon. We were all watching the news, it was 6:45 and we were waiting for Bella and Alice's interview to come on. Bella and I were on the couch, my arm around her shoulders, when Esme walked into the room, a surprised and slightly worried look on her face and holding a envelope.

"Esme, what's wrong?" I asked as I got up.

My arm slipped off Bella's shoulder and she looked up at me. "You've got mail…" she said slowly.

I froze, I never got mail. I didn't know anyone far away who would send me some.

I suddenly ripped the letter out of her hand and stared down at it. It looked like any ordinary letter to someone, except there was no return address and no stamp. It said Edward Anthony Masen and my address on the front in typed letters.

"You shouldn't open it, it hasn't got a return address…" Esme said, but I had already flipped it over and was working on opening it.

I got out the letter and read it; it was typed as well, trying to ignore everyone's staring eyes.

**Hello Edward,**

**I'm not sure if you remember me, I knew you when you were younger. My name is James, and I'm a family friend. We were tracking you down because your mom left a will that left you with everything she owned. I thought you should know and that we will be coming to look for you so that we can give you what you deserve and give you're new family what they deserve for helping you out over the years.**

**See you in the near future,**

**James**

My breathing became laboured, the letter slipped from my hands. James, I knew him well. My right hand rubbed down my left ribs, ribs he had once broken.

He was my father's friend and part of a gang with my father. I wanted to crumple to the ground. The letter was so him too, he was pretending to be nice and then when everyone was fooled he'd turn around and get me.

Twisted was probably the best way to describe him.

Plus now he was going to hurt my new family too? Tears were threatening to pour from my eyes. I didn't want my family to be hurt, especially Bella.

I was hyperventilating and I was trying to stop. I had to stop; I had to not worry my friends and family.

I could see Esme saying something to me, but I couldn't hear her. She gripped my shoulder and I could feel tears on the edges of my eyes fall.

Jasper was suddenly beside me and he reached down and read the letter, his eyes skimming over the page quickly. He looked at me in confusion, but I think he knew something was wrong with the letter.

Esme led me to the kitchen and she got me a glass of water and shushed me comfortingly.

Bella was suddenly holding my face in her delicate hands. "Edward," She said so quietly it was like a whisper. My breathing slowed a bit. "Edward, relax, everything is fine," She said sweetly.

I shook my head, "No, no it's not."

"Yes, it is," she said confidently, "Everything is fine, you've got to relax, we're all here for you." She said smiling slightly. "Take a deep breath Edward."

I listened to her and felt a little calmer.

"Now tell me, what's the matter," She said in a tone that was kind of cautious, like she was worried I'd flip out again.

"It's nothing," I said immediately, out of habit.

"Edward, it's just you and me here, why can't you just tell me, no one else has to know…" She said and I looked around, no one was in the kitchen. I wondered briefly how she convinced them to leave so she could talk to me in the first place.

I took a deep breath, "Did you read the letter?" I asked and she nodded. I took another deep breath, "James is my dad's friend, he's part of the same gang as my dad and when I was younger when they got bored they'd beat me up and stuff." I had said this looking away from Bella. I looked up at her afraid to see her reaction.

As soon as I saw her I wanted to make the pain in her eyes go away. She looked so upset and sad because of what I'd said. I should have just kept my mouth shut. She suddenly threw her arms around me and I hugged her hard. I shushed her and rubbed her back because I could feel her shaking.

"Edward, it's okay, I swear to you, I won't let you get hurt, but please don't do anything stupid okay? Can we make an agreement that we both won't be crazy idiots or something? I'll try not to walk into stuff and fall down and whatever you want, but please I don't want you to get hurt, if he like… comes after you... please just look after yourself." She said crying on my shirt.

"No Bella, it's you I swear won't get hurt. I can handle it, all of you won't get hurt because of my bad luck," I practically growled, "I was always knew I couldn't run from my past, it's just catching up, that's all," I said quietly.

She looked up at me, eyes wet from crying, and I could tell she was going to protest and tell me that I was being stupid or something. She was just opening her mouth when Alice shouted, "Our interview is on!"

We both reluctantly got up and headed for the TV room. "This isn't over, we'll talk about it later," She whispered.

I ground my teeth together; I wouldn't endanger Bella with my past. She would be safe, no matter what I had to do to make it so. "There is nothing to talk about," I practically growled.

**(Bella's POV)**

How could he even say that? There was everything to talk about. He clearly didn't see that his new family would die for him, just like he'd die for them. I'd die for him.

We watched the interview and I could see Edward smile when I said I was dating him, true I did like him a lot… maybe even love him already.

I took a deep breath; Edward was so stubborn, almost as stubborn as me. He didn't want to bother me with this, at least that's what it looked like. He didn't want me to feel his pain, but I'd take his pain times a billion if it made him as happy as I knew he could be.

Although I was just a girl, thrown into this mess, I wanted to help him so much. He wasn't going to let me… that much was clear.

All I knew was that I wasn't going to let him out my sight, he was probably cooping up some sort of crazy whack job plan right now in that brilliant brain of his to make sure that none of us got hurt in the crossfire of his old life.

I looked at Edward's perfect face, I didn't feel good enough for him, and it was weird to feel that way. All my life my mom had ground it into my head that I was better than everyone and no one was good enough for _me_, but as I looked at Edward's face I felt small and insignificant.

I curled up against Edward's side and tried to push away those thoughts, but it was there, buzzing like an angry bee in the back of my mind.

I wasn't good enough for him, and I knew it with every fibre of my being. I would try, and I wouldn't give up, until I was worthy of standing next to him. He was worth it, worth every single second.


	11. Spilt Milk

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**(Edward POV)**

I felt so bad for the way I was acting towards Bella, but I was so upset and stressed out I didn't know what to do with myself. Everyone had left or gone up to bed, except Carlisle, he was at the late shift at the hospital.

I stood in the middle of the kitchen. I had a choice to make right now, I had so many options, from the most dangerous to the most darkest, and my mind was just swimming with confusion, worry and pain.

I sighed and felt like breaking something; I sat down at one of the stools and put my head on the counter. I lay there like that for a long time, thinking of what I should do.

I didn't hear the door open or close, or the footsteps that followed but the sudden hand that touched my shoulder made me jump. I stood so quickly and turned that my stool fell over. I was breathing hard from the shock and panic.

Carlisle stared at me in surprise and slight amusement, "Sorry, I thought you fell asleep…." He muttered, evidently he was still a little shocked.

I picked up the stool and put it upright. I sat down and rested my right elbow on the counter as I pinched the bridge of my nose. My eyes closed and I tried to clear my head.

"Are you alright?" he asked pulling his own stool over. I could tell he was facing me, but I tried to ignore his presence.

I sighed, "No." This was the first time I'd really talked to Carlisle since he told me about my mom, and I felt a little bad about that. He was always so compassionate and tried so hard to understand what I was going through.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked resting a comforting hand on my left arm.

I dropped my arm from my nose and took a deep breath. I reached over and handed him James' letter. I stood and walked a few feet away until I was standing at the doorway. I leaned against the doorway and waited for his response.

"Is it just me, or is something wrong with this letter?" Carlisle muttered and I turned to see him frowning at it as he read it.

"That's because there is something wrong with it," I said in monotone.

He looked up at me, "What is it?" He asked and I could see the worry in his eyes. I guess I was frightening him a little.

I turned away again and leaned against the doorway again and I could hear him stand and he was starting to walk towards me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I could see him, James, in front of my eyes, I shuddered. "James is probably my father's best friend," I muttered. If there was someone in my family I had to tell it was Carlisle. "Him and father would come over and… well you know…. They did pretty much everything together. They were even in the same gang…. He was there the last time my father beat me…. I wouldn't be surprised if he helped my father kill my mom," I choked up a bit there and it took everything I had to even continue. I was glad I closed my eyes; tears were welling in my eyes and threatening to pour out in sobs of pain.

Just then I had a flashback of sorts, I was sitting at home when I was seven. I knew what day this was, it was the last time they beat me before my teacher asked me about my bruises and I broke down and told her.

My mom just gone out to her night job, she didn't even bother kissing my forehead goodbye tonight. She didn't even have time to say that she loved me because she had to run in from her day job and run back out.

I was just curled up on the couch and was waiting for my dad and James to come home and make me dinner. I was so hungry, starving almost. Today at school my teacher remarked on my small lunch. I told her I had a big breakfast when really my dad shouted at me for making too much noise and kicked me out for before I could grab anything.

They came in, laughing, drunk as usual, and I saw that he was carrying a fast food bag. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven or something. We never ate that stuff. Well… I never ate that stuff.

I jumped up and ran over to him. "Hi dad," I said with a smile. I hoped I hadn't made him mad already. The food smelled so good and I didn't want him to get angry at me and send me to bed without food again. Of course, it would be my fault if I did make him mad, I knew that, he told me all the time that it was.

"Hey kid, must be your lucky day," He laughed, "I actually remembered to buy you food!" He laughed down at me.

I just stood there with my hands at my sides and smiled, I didn't know how to respond to that one. I settled for, "Yes sir."

James laughed at me, "Amazing, you finally trained him, and you fat liar! Elizabeth called you to remind you!" He swayed as he laughed.

I just stood there and smiled. My dad suddenly looked down at me like he'd seen me there for the first time, "What are you smiling at, you stupid little punk?" His eyes were suddenly filling with anger and I knew that was never good for me.

What had I done this time? I tried to think back and know what I did, but I couldn't remember. He must be right, I am stupid. The smile immediately dropped from my face.

"You'd better watch yourself Eddie." James warned, "You wouldn't want us to make you sorry for being a smart ass." He warned wagging a finger at me, still staggering slightly.

_I must be really stupid_, I thought,_ how can I not know what I'd done?_ My stomach rumbled hungrily and my eyes widened a little and I hoped they didn't hear that. I wasn't sure what trouble it would get me in now, but I was sure not to like it.

"Dude, you'd better feed your kid, or he'll die or something. Unless that's what you want, and if that's the case, I'll help ya out buddy," James laughed.

I felt sick to my stomach, or it might just be my hunger acting up, but his comment scared me. I was always afraid of James.

My father laughed to my horror, "At the moment I'm undecided," He staggered a little and grabbed a chair to keep himself steady.

My eyes went wider and my tear ducts reacted and tears coated my eyes. I always knew he didn't love me. He would love me if I was better, if I was what he wanted, but I wasn't, so he hated me. He didn't know if he wanted me to die? I always hoped that somewhere he wanted me to be alive and that he loved me or something. I thought that he at least didn't think I was bad enough that he didn't want me around, but I guess I was wrong.

Tears fell from my eyes, to my utter horror, and I tried to make them stop but they just kept coming. Tears would only make them madder and it was more likely that I'd get no food and get an extra side of pain.

James and my father seemed to look at me at the same time, anger in their eyes. "You little wimp, men don't cry," James growled and pushed my shoulder. My legs collapsed right away and I knelt on the floor, tears still coming.

My fathers' foot pulled back and I immediately covered my head, I felt the impact of his foot against my stomach, and it hurt like hell, but at that exact moment I heard a voice far off calling my name, it was Carlisle.

I was suddenly in the present again. I could feel that I was on my back and I was so confused about how I got there. I opened my eyes slowly. Carlisle was in front of me and his hands were on my shoulders, but I couldn't really see him that well through my tears.

"Edward, are you alright? You kind of fainted there," He said and I wiped my eyes furiously. He helped me into a sitting position.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to… I just…." I took a deep breath and tried to remind myself that it was _Carlisle_ I was talking to and that I didn't need to be defensive or try to apologize for everything I did.

"Edward its fine, what happened?" He asked with a slight smile.

I looked away from him, "Nothing," I whispered wishing he'd drop it.

"Edward," He said sternly. "Hiding inside yourself will do you no good," He said trying to look into my eyes as I avoided his gaze.

Anger and shame burned in me, "Just drop it okay?" I said curtly as I looked him in the eyes. I could see that he was surprised I said that to him. I looked away, "Sorry," I whispered.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "Edward its fine."

I suddenly was standing, "No it's not." I growled, "I was stupid to think I could get away from them." I closed my eyes for a moment, when I spoke my voice was quiet and pitiful, "You shouldn't have helped me in the first place; I don't deserve your help." I was shaking and I turned and headed for the stairs.

Carlisle caught me and spun me around, "Edward, you deserve all the help in the word," He said making me look into his eyes, "And if you can't see that we'll all just have to try a little harder."

"It's no use, I shouldn't even be here," I said my eyes full of tears again. A few escaped and fell, "I should have just died, he wanted me to and I couldn't even do that right." My voice broke several times as I said that and my tears suddenly came rushing from my eyes.

Carlisle was suddenly hugging me and I hugged him back and he let me sob. He shushed me and comforted me. "Edward, Edward," he said slowly shaking his head, "What am I going to do with you," He whispered rubbing my back, "You do so many good things, so many right things. Your father… well he was stupid for not seeing how amazing you are. This family wouldn't be whole without you; I, we, have never regretted having you here." He said and I was starting to calm down a little, "Well maybe when you forget to do your chores," He tried to joke, but it only made me feel worse. I think he could tell because he said, "Edward that was a joke, no need to feel bad about it."

"B-but James is going to come and hurt you guys… all because of me," I said fresh tears springing from my eyes at the thought.

"Yes, but if you wish I will inform the police or whoever about him." Carlisle said. "Do you know his last name?" He asked and I shook my head. I was still locked in a hug and it didn't look like Carlisle was letting go anytime soon. "Do you want me to inform someone about him?" Carlisle asked me softly, like I was going to suddenly burst into tears if he said something wrong.

I was silent for a few moments, "I don't want him to be angrier with me," I whispered.

"Edward, he'll never hurt you again, I promise. It's just so that they can watch out for him and arrest him for hurting you and everything he's done." Carlisle soothed.

I was silent for a moment. I took a deep breath and finally nodded, "Okay…" I whispered with my eyes squeezed shut. I trusted Carlisle, and if he said he'd never hurt me again, than he'd never hurt me again.

He rubbed my back, "Alright, now come on up to bed, you're tired." He said letting me go a little and leading me upstairs.

"What time is it?" I asked feeling extremely tired suddenly, it was probably from my emotional breakdown downstairs.

"Nearly 1 am, do you want to stay home tomorrow? I bet your popularity grew incredibly when you started dating Isabella Swan." He said giving my shoulder a squeeze.

I looked up at him with a smile of surprise, "That would be nice, but how did you know I was dating her?"

He laughed, "Edward you've been to the hospital I work at, the break room has a TV."

I rolled my eyes and he ruffled my hair, "Sleep well Edward," He whispered.

I smiled and nodded, "You too Carlisle," I said with a yawn and entered my room. I went to my bed and lay down. I fell into a nice, dreamless sleep.

**(Carlisle's POV)**

I went to my room and changed. I crawled into bed and Esme moved a little to put her arm around me. "Did you just get back?" she asked sleepily.

I sighed, "No, I was talking to Edward."

She sat up a little and looked at me, "What did he say?" She asked almost fully awake.

I sat up a little as well, "Did you see James' letter?" I asked her slowly. I could see her nod in the dark. "Did he tell you about him?" I asked her in the same tone as my last question. Esme loved Edward as if he was her own, telling her this could very well break her heart.

Her eyes narrowed at me, "What did he tell you?" She asked sharply. Now as much as I love Esme, she can be scary when she gets protective over Rose, Jasper and especially Edward.

"Now, Esme, calm down, I have the situation under control," I tried to soothe her, but her eyes only narrowed even more.

"What did he say Carlisle?" She nearly growled.

I sighed and told her about James and what happened and what Edward had said. By the end she was sitting very still and in shock. She just stared at me, "Oh my God, you are alerting the police tomorrow," She said after a second.

"I know Esme, Edward's allowing me to, I said he could stay home from school tomorrow because it's so late, you may as well let the others stay home too. Just don't tell them about James, he'll tell them if he wants them to know," I said stroking her cheek.

She nodded and snuggled up to me. "Goodnight Carlisle," She whispered as we lay in each other's arms.

"Good Morning Esme," I said with a smile and kissed her forehead before we both feel into a pleasant sleep.

**(Bella's POV)**

In the morning I was awaking by the sound of buzzing. I turned over and looked at my phone. I had a text message from Edward saying him, Jasper, and Rose had the day off, and that if Alice, Emmett and I had time we could hang out later.

I smiled and texted Edward back and I'd see if I had anything to do today and report back.

I went downstairs and my mom was there beaming at me.

"Oh gosh mom, what did I do right?" I said sarcastically.

"Bella, because you've got this new, no name, boyfriend, your popularity has shot through the roof! I've got so many calls for interviews its crazy! Most even want him to come too! Isn't that amazing sweetheart!" she cheered happily.

I smiled, I wasn't happy about the popularity spike, but it was the first time she was happy I had Edward as a boyfriend, and the world seems to accept him as my boyfriend and wanted to meet him. I smiled in true happiness. "That's great, are there any interviews today? Edward and Jasper and Rosalie aren't in school today so they could come to any this afternoon…." I said if this was the only way to get my mom to like Edward then hell I was going to milk it for all it was worth.

My mom beamed and actually jumped with happiness, "Okay, I'll check and see if there is anything!" She grinned and bounced off to make some arrangements.

I shook my head and ate breakfast before mom bounced back practically singing about an interview I had and that I should call Edward and his family and Alice and tell them. Apparently Alice was invited if she can come too.

I went ahead and called them, Alice first, because I knew I had to get her before she made plans.

"Hey Bella!" she answered cheerfully.

I told her about this morning and the interview I heard her squeal over the line. "Really? Awesome! Is Emmett on today?" She asked.

"Ya, he has spares in the afternoon today so he's coming over," I said with a smile.

"Fantastic! You're going to call the others?" She asked and I could almost see her bouncing up and down.

"Yep, see ya Alice; I'll talk to you later." I grinned and she squealed before hanging up.

I called Edward and he answered almost right away, "Hey love," he answered casually.

I giggled, "Hiya handsome, honestly, what would you have done if it wasn't me calling?" I asked.

He chuckled, "Get embarrassed and wish it was you I guess."

I blushed at his comment, stupid boy who makes stupid comments like that. "Hey according to my mom I've got the day off too, except there is this one interview…."

"Oh… well if you have to go its fine, I'll see you after…" Edward said sounding kind of put out thinking that I was busy.

I laughed, "No silly boy, you can come to the interview, actually, they want you there. They want to interview Alice, Jasper, me and you and Emmett is going to be here so Rose might as well be there too."

"Really? Awesome," Edward said his mood picking right back up. "Do we have to go somewhere for it?" he asked.

"No, I think it's over here, they'll probably take a few pictures and whatever and ask a bunch of questions. Course it'll probably be a huge thing for everyone else, front of magazine crap and whatever. It'll be quick, but if you aren't up for it than we don't have to do it…" I said slowly.

"Bella, I'd suffer through a billion interviews for you," He said and I smiled at the thought. Edward was so nice.

"Thanks Edward, but you don't have to do that for me, or anyone," I said smiling as the hand that wasn't holding the phone played with the hem of my shirt.

"Well it doesn't matter, I'll see you later love."

"Bye Edward," I said smiling and hung up.

A few hours later, the others came over and the person interviewing us for some teen magazine was coming over in a half an hour.

I had music blasting through my bottom floor and we were hanging out in the living room while we waited. I held Edward's hand as we talked. Alice was on her knees bouncing on the couch like she usually did.

Jasper suddenly reached out and grabbed her around the waist and dragged her onto his lap. She looked like a doll compared to him, well compared to anyone, but to him especially.

Rose and Emmett were sharing a comfy chair and were whispering to each other. Rose kept giggling and Emmett kept grinning, so I assumed they were flirting.

The interviewer showed up about 20 minutes later. He had a little team of photographers with him.

"Hello, I'm Eric," the man said and held out his hand for us all to shake his hand.

"Alright let's get started," he said and he started asking questions on how we all met and the relationships. It was pretty fun really.

Taking the photos were the most fun though, we took several photos at different places.

During the whole interview the only thing I could think about how much I was falling for Edward. He was just too perfect for words.

We hung out for a while after the reporter and the camera guys left. It was pretty nice; it felt almost normal with them.

At around 5:30 Edward's phone beeped, "Oh, we have to get going, and Esme says to pick up some milk on the way home."

Rose sighed, "Fine, we'll go I guess," She said and got up off of Emmett's lap.

Jasper dragged himself up after Rose and Edward looked at me, "I have to go," he said.

I nodded, "See you tomorrow?" I asked him and I could hear the longing in my voice.

He smiled and nodded, "See you Bella," he called as he left the room.

I slumped back into the couch and Alice leaned on me. "I'm in heaven."

Alice sighed happily, "I know, me too."

**(Edward's POV)**

Today was perfection in the form of a very amazing girl. I didn't even mind walking all the way to the store to get milk and go back home.

We were walking around the store we were just checking out anything else that we might need or want. I broke off from Jasper and Rose when they went to get some chocolate.

I said I'd go get the milk. I walked over to the aisle with my hands in my pockets. The milk was at the very back of the grocery store and there wasn't really anything but milk and cream and juices and eggs there. It was kind of away from the rest of the store in its own random section that you didn't find many people in.

I stood there, looking at all of the different milk in the refrigerator. I couldn't really see the milk though; all I was thinking about was Bella. How much I liked Bella and all her little qualities. Her gentle smile, her beautiful eyes, her loving nature, the list was endless.

I mindlessly reached in and grabbed the right kind. I knew that Esme liked the glass bottles rather than the cartons. I wasn't really sure why, but Esme was always asking for the glass ones.

"They've got more selection here than that corner store in Chicago, wouldn't you agree Edward?" A voice I feared spoke directly behind me.

My breath caught, it couldn't be, what were the chances? My whole body was frozen in shock, my fingers loosened the tiniest bit and the glass bottle slipped from my fingers and shattered on the ground.

I heard the voice chuckle, "Edward, Edward, Edward, you just wasted valuable milk right there. If your father was here he would not let you get away with that one."

I turned slowly and a few feet behind me stood James. He looked perfectly at ease, he watched me with eyes that chilled my bones.

"James?" I asked in a quiet voice.

He grinned, I wanted to run as fast as I could, but my legs were locked in place. "Nice seeing you again Eddie."

I gulped, "I don't go by Eddie anymore." I never really did, only James ever called me Eddie and I had been too afraid to tell him to stop it before.

He gave me a look like he didn't really care. "Well you've grown Edward, surprising," he sneered.

I stared at him, waiting for him to get to his point.

"I heard you've got a new girlfriend," He said smirking and finally getting somewhere.

Ice shot down my back but I tried not to show it, "Don't you even think about it."

"Think about what exactly?" He asked me.

I didn't answer that. "What are you doing here?" I asked him anger, fear and past memories flooding through my mind.

"Well my stupid little Edward, your father came to me with a simple task before beating the snot out of your good for nothing mother," He said it all in a formal tone and I cringed, I didn't let my emotions show or the tears in my eyes fall. I wouldn't put it past James to beat me to a pulp right here.

He watched me for a moment, "He asked me to come up here and find you, so that if, and when, he breaks out of prison he'll know exactly where you are and everyone you love is. Isn't that convenient?" He asked sounding as if he asked me an everyday question.

I gulped, I was terrified now. "Why do you even want me? There is no point in hurting me."

James shrugged, "Why do people play sports, love of the game."

I felt sick, "You're saying you like hurting me… because it's fun?" I asked feeling disturbed.

"Kind of… I just like knowing you're scared of me." He chuckled, "If you could see the look in your eyes right now… the raw fear is right there…. I can't wait to reawaken that fear… expect me there when your daddy comes to reclaim you."

Panic was rising in my chest, "Are you going to take me now?" I asked I had to know.

"No… I'm waiting for my signal… I can't lay a finger on you until then, but don't worry Eddie, I'll be around, and don't worry if you can't see me… I can see you," He said grinning and turned and started walking away.

Once he rounded the corner I slowly sat down on the ground, out of the way of the broken glass and milk, and held my arms around my knees and I began to shake a little. I worked on not hyperventilating, I worked on composing myself.

"Edward?" I cringed at the voice, Jasper, always Jasper. "Edward, are you alright?" Jasper asked and I felt him place a hand on my arm.

I shook my head, still hiding my face.

I heard the crunch of glass and the slight drip of milk. "Why'd you drop a jug of milk?" He asked.

"James," I said and I was sure it was a little muffled.

"James? He's the guy that sent you the letter right?" He asked and I nodded slightly. "What about him made you drop the milk?" he asked calmly, but he knew something was wrong and he was worried about me, I could tell by his tone.

I sniffled slightly, "Nothing, it's fine… really." I had to protect them from James. They would never know anything that would put them in danger. Fear rose and fell inside of me, I'd told Carlisle, but now I knew that I would have to never tell him anything else about James.

I stared to move but Jasper suddenly held me in place. I looked up at him in confusion. "This is not nothing. You are not fine," He said looking me right in the eyes, "There is something wrong and you are going to tell me what it is, right now," He demanded.

I was suddenly very angry with Jasper, I pushed his arms away and stood up, and he stood as well, still watching me. "It doesn't matter, okay? Everything is fine. Just drop it."

"No, I won't _just drop it_," Jasper said sternly, "I don't care if you think your helping us by keeping us out and I don't care if you think your keeping us safe, I want to know and I want to know now."

"Well that's just too damn bad, because I'm not telling you what's wrong because there is nothing wrong," I said my voice rising slightly.

"This is not over," Jasper growled.

"It was over five seconds ago!" I suddenly yelled and wrenched open the fridge and grabbed a jug of milk and slammed it shut. I started to walk off and I could hear him following right behind me.

Neither of us said anything to the other as we waited for Rosalie.

She came over and took in our silence and the fact that we were casting glares at each other every once in a while didn't help us. "What happened?" She asked right away.

"Nothing, Jasper's being annoying," I grumbled.

"No, Edward is being an idiot," Jasper growled at me.

"There is nothing wrong," I growled right back.

"There is! You just don't want to tell me," Jasper said looking at me and yelling at me.

"I won't tell you because there is nothing wrong!" I yelled back.

Rose sighed and took the milk and whatever Jasper had and went into line. One of the supermarket attendants came over and said, "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt but you are causing a disturbance. You have to leave the store."

The two of us rounded on him with me yelling, "Shut up!" and Jasper yelling "Stay out of this!" at the exact same time before going back to yelling at each other.

15 minutes later the two of us stood outside the supermarket and were not speaking with each other. Rose paced in front of us; I could see the angry look in her eyes. "Jasper, Edward, I can't believed they _banned_ you from the store."

"That wasn't really what he said, he said we had a three week suspension from the sto-" Rose cut Jasper off with a shrill scream.

"I don't care!" She screamed at us, "Jasper, it's Edward's life, he'll tell you what he wants to tell you and that's that. Edward, Carlisle will know about this and I swear to God if he doesn't wrestle it out of you, I will. So you better get over whatever problem you've got or I'm going to kick both your behinds till they fall off!" She screamed with her hands on her hips.

We walked home after she was done screaming at us. She didn't say anything and every time we tried to say something she'd tell us to shut up. When we arrived home I went strait to my room and lay down to think. Carlisle would be home early tonight and when he got here he'd probably want to speak to me about the whole thing and he'd talk to Jasper, which meant that he'd probably figure it out.

Would it be a good idea to let him know? Or was it better to hide it? Was it better to run away? Was it better to stay?

I had a lot to think about.


	12. Frosting on the Cake

Hey for future reference, _this is Edward singing, _**this is Jasper singing, **_**and this is the two of them!**_

**Chapter 12**

**(Jasper's POV)**

I paced in my room, _stupid Edward_, I though angrily over and over again. _What was his problem anyways? Was it so bad to let people in? He let Bella in, but he wouldn't tell the rest of us what was wrong? Idiot._

At the same time I was angry I knew I was worried, Edward wouldn't refuse to tell me something if it wasn't serious. Something about James really freaked him, and I don't know what it was, which made me extremely angry with myself.

I heard a knock on my door and I growled, apparently that means to enter because the door opened, Carlisle opened the door and stepped in. "Jasper? What is Rosalie yelling about?" He asked me calmly.

I fumed silently for a second, "Edward is a complete idiot!" I suddenly exploded and proceeded to tell him about what happened. Carlisle didn't say anything he just listened to me yell and rant and wear out my anger. "I mean I just don't want to him to get hurt or anything and he won't let anyone in and he's being stupid!" I said feeling totally frustrated because I couldn't help him.

Carlisle came over to me and patted my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I'll talk to him, it'll be fine Jasper. Leave it to me," he said, promising to make it okay.

I nodded and he sent me a reassuring look before leaving out the door.

**(Edward's POV)**

I breathed heavily as I heard Jasper in the other room, time was running out and I needed to make a decision, like now.

I was worrying, I could climb out of the window and down to the yard and simply run away, but I didn't have time and it would hurt me too much to do that. My door creaked open before I could decide and I just stared out my window without thinking about how Carlisle must be right behind me.

"Edward, would you like to talk to me about anything?" Carlisle asked me lightly.

I glared out into the yard, _stupid Jasper_, I thought angrily before answering, "No, and Carlisle I would like to add that I changed my mind."

"About?" Carlisle asked in a slightly worried tone.

"I wish for you not to tell anyone about James, not even the authorities," I said in monotone. My heart hurt knowing that no one would know anything about James and no one would be able to help me, but I needed to protect them.

"Why?" Carlisle asked horrified.

"No reason, I see no point in telling them. It's not important anymore," I said in the same monotonous tone.

"Edward, what's wrong? It's very important to tell them," He said concern colouring his voice and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged him off, "There is _nothing_ wrong," I practically growled.

"Edward, don't play me for a fool. I know when you're lying," He said.

Anger boiled in me, "Whatever Carlisle, my secret about James is a secret and I don't give you permission to tell anyone." I finally turned around to see him purse his lips in frustration, "That's all, end of story," I said sternly.

"Fine, Edward, I won't tell anyone, but what happened in the store?" Carlisle finally gave in, see that I wasn't going to cave, but I wasn't sure if he was planning on living up to it.

I turned away from him, crossing my arms over my chest, "Nothing." I said stubborn again.

"Edward Anthony Masen," Carlisle said in the sternest voice I'd ever heard from him, evidently he'd run out of patience for my stalling, "Sit down this instant and tell me what is going on." He didn't ask like he usually would or suggest it, he demanded it.

Stunned, I turned to look at him, anger spiked and glared at him, "You're not my father; you can't tell me what to do." The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. I instantly wanted to take it back.

Carlisle looked like I'd slapped him or something. He was so surprised but he regained his composure, "Edward, I'm damn glad I'm not your father, he is a cruel and insensitive man and for hurting you I hate him. Now sit your butt down and tell me what happened or so help me I'll ground you for a month. You will be confined to your room and you may only leave for school." Carlisle said rather calmly but the undertone was angry.

I was surprised, Carlisle never got angry and he would never swear, even though damn wasn't too bad but still! It was Carlisle for goodness sake, he didn't hate people and he didn't swear. Did I make him that angry? Did I hurt him that much? Guilt and worry and the pain at the thought of Carlisle disliking me shot through me and I instantly sat down. I didn't even really choose to sit down, I just did.

Carlisle let out a deep breath and stood in front of me, but somehow not in an intimidating way.

Carlisle again asked me what happened and I sighed. _I can't run away more I guess_, I thought,_ if they all get hurt it'll be my fault… but I guess I'll just have to protect them then because Carlisle won't let me leave the room without telling him._ I pulled my knees to my chest and lay my head on the top of my legs and told him what happened. He didn't say a thing the whole time and when I was done I sunk a little deeper into the chair.

"Edward?" Carlisle's voice was calm again.

"What?" I asked and I really wanted to call Bella. I didn't know how or why but I felt like if I just talked to her I'd feel better.

"Thank you for your honesty and I know that was hard, but its better that you told me. Seriously, Edward, I can help, if the cops are looking for him then he won't be able to set foot near you." Carlisle said his voice was closed to the ground, I guess he was crouching in front of me.

"No one can help me. Carlisle, please, just leave me alone." I said feeling a breakdown of some sort coming on.

"Okay Edward, I'll talk to you later," He said but it felt more like he was promising it to me. He kissed the very top of my head, considering my face was buried in my knees.

Once the door closed and relaxed a little. I pulled out my phone and called Bella.

**(Bella's POV)**

I was lying around in my bed, happy that my mom had accepted Edward so far and the interview had gone well. I was reading a book about a vampire romance and let me just say, it was pretty damn good. I felt like I could really connect with the main character. It was like we were exactly alike.

My cellphone buzzed and I reached blindly for it and opened it and held it to my ear. "Hello?" I said as I continued to read.

"Hey, it's Edward." Edward's voice perfect voice projected into my ear and I was instantly concentrating on him.

"Edward! Hi! How was your day?" I asked him happy to hear his voice.

"The part with you was good, better than good, fantastic. The part with Jasper and Rose at the store... not so good," he said and I knew something was wrong from his voice.

"What happened?" I asked I vaguely realized that I'd pushed the book off the bed and probably lost my page, oh well, there were more important things to deal with.

He sighed into the phone and told me the whole story. James, Jasper Carlisle. I wanted to run over and hug him.

"Edward its okay, look if they catch him then he won't hurt you, you just said that he has to wait for your dad so they'll just have to watch him more closely. It's going to be okay Edward," I said and I was kind of surprised, me comforting and reassuring him? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Surely he didn't need me to hold his hand and tell him it'll be okay.

"Thanks Bella, I really appreciate you telling me this," Edward said.

I smiled, "Okay," I paused, biting my lip, "So I was just wondering if you wanted to do something tomorrow… it doesn't have to be big, just I wanted to see you." I said kind of embarrassed.

I swear I could hear him smiling, "Okay, I'll call you tomorrow." He said and I grinned. I swear right now I was untouchable, I was on cloud nine. Even with Edward's past was threatening him and my mom was crazy I was there, sitting contently on cloud nine.

A few days passed, Edward came with me everywhere, when he got out of school of course, and he was constantly keeping me sane. If I got too crazy or stressed he knew exactly what to say or do to just bring me down from boiling point.

It was Friday and we were in my kitchen. I was baking, it was something I loved and it made me feel like everybody else. He was sitting by the island as I worked, he kept asking if he could help, but Jasper and Rose found great pleasure in telling me about his cooking skills so I refused to let him get near the oven.

Apparently the funniest was that one time he tried to make something nice for Esme and he'd made a cake explode. I'd laughed for a good five minutes before I could calm down and Edward pouted and crossed his arms like a little child the whole time.

I was frosting a cake like a pro. It was intricate and beautiful. I even had special icing bags and tips to make flowers and special spinning plate so I could turn it easier as I iced.

"One day I really hope that you teach me how to do that," Edward said as he stared at the cake as I iced a few blue flowers with yellow centers and green leaves.

I giggled, "Hold out your palm," I commanded and he did that. I drew a flower on his hand and grinned, "That's for you," I giggled and he looked at it in wonder.

"So do you just squeeze the different bags and it does that for you?" He asked wiping up some of the icing and licking it.

I chuckled, "No, you have to move it, the tips make it a little easier, but you need to know how to use them."

I was concentrating on making a cluster of flowers that I didn't realize that he took the bag of green icing and started trying stuff out with it.

"Hey, Edward, I need that still!" I said shaking my head at him and taking the bag back.

"Aww, I was just starting to get it," He muttered sounding a little disappointed.

I sighed and took the white bag, "Okay, the easiest one to do it a little flower so you just squirt, twist a little and lift up fast and it looks pretty." I said and showed him by squirting a little on the counter.

He took the bag and the first one was a little small and the second a little big but the third looked okay. He grinned, "Awesome," he said and I giggled and he looked at me. "Close your eyes." He said and I did. I felt something cold and I frowned. "Hey! Don't move," he said and clearly he was having too much fun with this because I could hear the joy in his voice. "I'll be right back," he said and he really was because then he said, "Open."

I opened my eyes to see Edward in front of me, the smile on his face, his smile, was so bright it was almost blinding. He was holding a mirror and I gaped at the mirror, he had squirted a little flower on the tip of my nose. I reached up, and the 'mirror me' copied me and I wiped the little flower off. I stuck the icing in my mouth, "Mmm vanilla."

He grinned, "Do they taste different?" he asked in wonder.

I nodded, "Mint, chocolate, vanilla, lemon, blueberry and strawberry."

"Cool, hey, I have to go play at Twilight tonight. Do you want to go?" Edward asked eating the icing he'd squeezed on the table.

I smiled, "Do you want me to go?" I asked him as I iced brown icing around bottom and top edges.

"It would be nice if you went, but if you don't want to…" he said continuing to play with the icing.

I rolled my eyes, "I'll go with you, you big baby." I teased him.

He smiled, "Hey, why did you bake a cake anyways?"

I shrugged, "Felt like it."

"You could sell your cakes I bet," Edward said randomly.

I snorted, "I doubt it." Edward looked like he was going to argue but decided against it.

Once I was done with the cake I showed Edward a few more icing tricks with the left over frosting.

"Come on Edward, we have to go to twilight so you can play," I groaned pulling him away from the array of frostings.

"Aww come on, just one more, how did you do those flowers?" Edward asked playing with the icing. Over the hour I showed him a few fancy designs and many simple ones and the simple joy on Edward's face made it so clear to me that this was a moment he missed as a child. When my family wasn't famous my mom and I would spend all day in the kitchen playing around and making stuff and that was one of my favourite memories. Edward has missed this with his mom and it made me sad. He had no happy memories from his childhood and that thought made me want to go back in time and fix that.

I leaned in and kissed him; he dropped the icing and wrapped his arms around me. "I'll show you more some other time. Now let's go," I said smiling.

"Cheater," he whispered and kissed me again.

I grinned against his lips, "Come on," I whispered taking his hand and led him away from the table.

At Twilight we walked through the back entrance reserved for the bands and the waitresses and waiters and others who worked there.

Rose, Emmett, Alice and Jasper were already waiting for us. They were waiting backstage for the other band to get off. Emmett was strumming on his guitar without the amp on and he looked up when Edward approached, "Hey Edward," he called quietly, for once in his life.

"Hey Emmett, you ready to make your début?" my love asked Emmett. Jasper, Rose and Edward had been talking about how they were looking for a guitarist and Emmett, who had played since he was 13, volunteered.

"Hell yes," Emmett answered with a grin and I heard cheering as the other band finished.

"We're on," Edward said and clapped Jasper on the back, "You ready?" he asked him. I smiled, it seemed Jasper and Edward weren't angry with each other anymore.

Jasper nodded and grinned, "Let's go." He said and said to Alice, "I'll see you out there. We were able to reserve a table for you two so you better get out there."

Alice nodded and took my hand; we went around to the club and went to our table.

Edward stood there smiling down at me and he winked. I giggled in response. He looked at the crowd and in an instant something shot across his eyes but as quickly as it appeared it was gone. He looked down, and looked up at again. Fierce determination was in his eyes and he nodded to Jasper and they started up, but my heart ached, "Alice," I said quietly.

She looked away from the stage to me, "Yeah?" she asked.

"Something's wrong," I whispered as I watched Edward. "Something is terribly wrong."

**(Edward's POV)**

Today was amazing; there was simply no other word for it. Bella just knew how to make me love every minute.

I looked down at the table that we reserved for Bella and Alice and they sat there. I smiled down at her and winked at her. I saw her giggle in the low light and I grinned. I looked up at the crowd; I could see tinges of red from my hair and ignored them.

It was the first time I was up here without a guitar and I felt like a whole weight was lifted from my shoulders. See I cracked a joke! I wouldn't have if she was here… granted it wasn't very funny but still!

Out in the audience was a face I hated. James stood leaning against the back of the club with a grin on his face.

Fear shot through me in a second, but I pushed it back. I looked at my feet. I couldn't do this with him here. Bella's beautiful face flashed across my eyes. I had to do this. I owed it to her at the least, she wanted the best from me and I'd show him I could and would do this, whether he was here or not.

I looked up with determination and smirked at him. I nodded to Jasper and we started.

The song that we had decided to play first meant something to me. Only One by Yellowcard, it explained how I felt for Bella so well it was ridiculous.

_Broken this fragile thing now  
And I can't, I can't pick up the pieces  
And I've thrown my words all around  
But I can't, I can't give you a reason_

I sang looked at her, I could see the slight panic in her eyes. She didn't need me to tell that for her to know something was wrong, but I refused to let it get to me.

_I feel so broken up _**(so broken up)**  
_And I give up_ **(I give up)**_  
__**I just want to tell you so you know  
**_

Jasper jumped in with my backup and I smiled at him for a second. I looked right Bella and she looked up at me. The panic was still there but it was lessened by my calmness.

_Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you  
You are my only one  
I let go, but there's just no one that gets me like you  
You are my only, my only one_

I grinned at her before looking up at James. He was staring at me, an angry light in his eyes. I smirked at him as I sang the next verse. They were for Bella, but I sang them to him to prove to him that I could do this. Whether he liked it or not I'd moved on with my life and I was happy here, and nothing would ever change that.

_Made my mistakes, let you down  
And I can't, I can't hold on for too long  
Ran my whole life in the ground  
And I can't, I can't get up when you're gone_

That verse was like my life in a nutshell and I smiled at Bella for a second. She was my everything now and I would do whatever it took to show her and keep her safe.

_And something's breaking up _**(breaking up)**_**  
**__I feel like giving up_**(like giving up)**_**  
I won't walk out until you know**_

I looked down at Bella again and she smiled at me. The love in her eyes made me happier than anything I'd ever seen. I sang to her.

_Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you  
You are my only one  
I let go, but there's just no one that gets me like you  
You are my only, my only one  
_

I glanced at James. He was glaring at me, I let the music intro go and I sang softly. I looked at Bella again and I looked at her and I hoped my eyes portrayed the love in my heart.

_Here I go so dishonestly  
Leave a note for you my only one  
And I know you can see right through me  
So let me go and you will find someone  
_

_Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you  
You are my only one  
I let go, but there's just no one, no one like you  
You are my only, my only one  
My only one  
My only one  
My only one  
You are my only, my only one_

I sang the last cord and looked up at James with a smirk. I leaned back from the mike and grinned. The crowd clapped and cheered and urged us to play another.

I glanced at Jasper and he grinned at me. I nodded to the rest and they started up. I nodded to the beat and grinned; tonight was going to be good.

**(Bella's POV)**

It felt like Edward sang every song to me and that made me feel spoiled, but nice. Edward was too sweet sometimes. I wondered what had disturbed him before but he seemed over it and that made me feel better more than anything.

It didn't even bother me that a few girls came over to get our autographs.

The night overall was nice and at 11:00 they bid their goodnight and Edward literally just jumped down and walked to our table. He sat down next to me. "Having fun ladies?" Edward asked with a grin.

I kissed his cheek, "Always."

He grinned, "Come on, I have to go home sometime today," he chuckled. I giggled; Edward had spent the whole day at my house, from sun up to sun down.

Alice smiled, "You did great Edward, come on, let's go find the others."

We went backstage and the others greeted us and Alice jumped into Jasper's arms and kissed him and started telling him about how awesome he had been.

We helped them pack up and we loaded Emmett's jeep and Rosalie's beautiful red car. Emmett got into the jeep after a short make out session with Rosalie. Rose went to her car and Jasper kissed little Alice before following Rose. Alice sighed happily and went into the jeep with Emmett.

Edward kissed my forehead, "Guess this is goodbye, until tomorrow." He whispered with the hint of a smile.

I smiled, "Until tomorrow," I whispered back and kissed his lips.

Rosalie beeped her horn and Edward rolled his eyes, "Sleep well," He whispered as he helped me into the jeep.

"You too," I whispered back and I watched as Edward go it and I watched Rose's car until it was out of sight.


	13. The Phone Call

**Hey people, truly I should be updating another Fanfic and not this one so you're LUCKY!! because the other people have to wait for me to finish the chapter on the other story but I really wanted to get this done here you go!**

**READ AWAY!**

**Chapter 13  
(Edward's POV)**

I smiled the whole way home. Bella made me so happy, no matter what she was doing or what she said, it simply just made me ecstatic.

We got out of the car and we headed towards the house. Jasper and I were cool again, I'd explained to him that I was just being crazy and that he was right, something was wrong, but I didn't want everyone to know and he'd actually taken it pretty well.

We walked in smiling, but the looks on Carlisle and Esme's faces made our smiles instantly drop. I felt like someone dumped ice water over my head; they were watching the TV with their mouths slightly open and their eyes wide and full of worry and fear.

I instantly ran over and looked at what they were watching. It was the news; I turned up the volume to listen to the reporter, my ears were having a hard time hearing through the sirens of panic in my head.

The woman reporting looked pretty distressed about the matter. I wanted to know what happened and I prayed it wasn't something too bad. "The Chicago penitentiary had never had a jail break like this before, 12 men have disappeared along with the believed ring leader Edward Masen Sr., who murdered his wife and has spent three years previously in Chicago penitentiary for physically abusing his son. If you see this man," A picture of my father appeared on the screen and it took all I had not to hide from it. They left it up as the woman continued. "Please know that he is extremely dangerous and should not be approached, the other escapes are…" I stopped listening; the whole world was falling apart in my mind. I felt like I was a huge piece of cloth and someone had a frayed piece of string on the end and they were pulling it, pulling me, slowly apart.

The first thing that entered my panicked and afraid mind was Bella. I instantly bolted from the room; I picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialled. I screwed up twice before I got it. She picked up on the third ring and I instantly shouted her name into the phone. That frayed piece of cloth was about half undone now.

"Edward, jeez, what's wrong? Why do you sound so weird?" Bella asked worried for me.

"Bella, where is your body guard?" I asked her instantly. Loop by loop I was falling apart, slowly unthread from the pain that was hidden deep in my heart.

"Uh, right outside the door, why?" She asked obviously thinking that it was a weird question to ask.

"Do you trust him?" I asked her feeling everything starting to fall apart at the seams. The mysterious person was pulling faster now. Every loop undid was tearing me apart. My breath was coming in and out way too fast. My hands were shaking and Jasper walked into the room and stared at me from across the kitchen. I think he was making sure I wasn't having a breakdown.

"Ya, pretty much," She said, "Edward what's wrong?" She asked I could hear the worry in her voice.

"Bella," I said I could feel my entire being falling apart. I was near the end now, only a few more lines of string and I'd be gone. "My dad broke out of jail," I said and that was the last loop, saying it out loud made me realize it was true and the world got too blurry to focus on.

I heard her yell "What!?" into the phone but I was already gone. The world went black. The last thing I saw was Jasper run towards me trying to catch me.

I awoke on the living room couch by the feel of it, there was the gentle buzz of talking nearby and I tried to listen.

"Mr. Smith I realize that he might have to be relocated with a different family, but I don't think that would be a good for him right now. He needs us more than ever." Carlisle spoke and I assumed it was on the phone because I didn't hear a reply. "Yes, I understand that his safety is important-… Mr. Smith I assure you that I care very deeply for Edward but if he was to leave this family it would tear it apart… yes I understand that he's not my child…" Carlisle was arguing with my social worker Mr. Smith. For a social worker he was pretty mean, or at least I always thought that. When I was younger I was afraid of him, he was a pretty big guy.

I groaned, my head hurt, "Hold on Edward's just waking up." Carlisle said and I blinked open my eyes and jumped because Carlisle was abnormally close to my face. "Sorry, are you okay?" he asked.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" I asked holding my head.

Carlisle gave me a sympathetic look, "You hit your head when you fainted pretty hard," Carlisle said touching a tender part of my head.

I winced, "I don't want to leave," I whispered.

Carlisle smiled softly, "I know," he said squeezing my shoulder. He held the phone to his ear, "Hi, I'm back…. You want to speak to him? Alright, here he is."

Carlisle handed me the phone and helped me sit up as I answered, "Hello?" I asked my head pulsing.

"Head hurt?" he asked in a whisper, I nodded and cringed a little. "I'll get you a painkiller and some water," he whispered and left the room.

"Hello Edward, I wanted to discuss your relocation. You've been with the Cullens an abnormally long time and since your dad is loose, we think you should move onto the next family." Mr. Smith said like none of this was a big deal.

"No," I said instantly.

"What? Look Edward, everything will be fine. We'll send you somewhere far away from here and Chicago. He won't get near you." He said as if that would make me feel better.

"No," I said again, this time sterner, "I want to stay here."

"Why? Carlisle said that some James character is coming after you so the safest thing is to leave," he was starting to get stubborn now.

I glared, last time I checked I didn't allow Carlisle to tell anyone; I ground my teeth together for a moment. "I'm not leaving, if you make me leave, I'll run away," I said feeling anger rushing through me.

"Edward, you've got nowhere to run to, you've been with the Cullen's too long and people are looking for you, you have to leave." Mr. Smith said, thinking if he pushed me more I'd give in.

I chuckled, "There is a whole world to run away to, I don't care if I've been here too long, I like it here, and people can look all they want. I'm staying here Mr. Smith," I said sternly.

Carlisle returned with water and a painkiller I smiled at him as I popped it in my mouth and dry swallowed it. I'd been able to get my own pain medication at 5, but no one really knew about that. I drank some water to make sure it wasn't sitting somewhere in my esophagus.

"Edward, give the phone to Carlisle," Mr. Smith said sternly and I sighed and held it out for Carlisle.

Carlisle walked out of the room with the phone. I slid down and closed my eyes, hoping the pulsing would stop soon.

I was awoken by raised voices. It wasn't really yelling but loud arguing. "Well then maybe I will," Carlisle said loudly, he was back in the room and he's made me jump awake. He sent me an apologetic look. "Fine, I'll ask him," Carlisle snapped and I was surprised to see him annoyed.

He knelt down to my height and looked me in the eyes. "Edward, I would like to ask you something… and I want you answer honestly," Carlisle said slowly as if was trying to make sure every word made sense.

"Okay," I answered.

"Would you like it if Esme and I adopted you?" He asked me gently.

I paused, thinking it over. There was nothing left in my last name to keep. My mother was gone and she was the only reason I'd kept it in the first place. I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. If this was the only way I'd say here with them, I'd take it.

He beamed, "Okay, Mr. Smith wants to talk to you again." He said passing me the phone.

"Hello?" I asked groggily.

"Hello Edward," Mr. Smith said and I could tell he was starting to get annoyed with all of this. "Do you honestly want to be adopted by them?" He asked as if he was confused as to why I'd want that.

"Yes," I said my mind thinking of how I'd never be able to live through moving to another family and that I'd never be able to leave Bella.

He sighed, "Fine," he said as if he hated having to go through this. "I'll write up the papers," he grumbled, "Bye Edward."

"See ya," I said and turned off the phone.

"Come on, it's late," Carlisle said helping me up.

I nodded, thinking that maybe I should call Bella again, but I glanced at my watch to see it was 3 in the morning. I'd call her tomorrow. I went upstairs with Carlisle to bed.

**(Bella's POV)**

That night I fell asleep uneasily, Jasper had gotten the phone and explained that Edward had fainted, for reasons unknown but that Edward would probably call back as soon as possible.

I was dreaming a dream of dark figures and in the dark was a single light; Edward was shinnying brightly. He was pushing aside all the dark figures and rushing towards me. I felt a slight prick in my wrist and I frowned, since when do you feel things in dreams?

I didn't really have time to think about it; I slipped further into the darkness. Somewhere in my mind red warning lights were flashing, but my mind was too hazy to really think. The darkness took me before I could put together two and two and realized it equalled danger.

When I woke up I was in a room that I didn't know or recognize, but it looked like it belonged in a horror movie. I guessed I was in a basement somewhere because there were no windows and just the general feel of the area screamed a basement.

There was just a bed against the wall, a staircase across from it, a swinging light bulb and the walls were concrete. They looked dirty too, the dirt and grime looked like it was either climbing down or up the walls.

My hands were bound behind my back and my mouth was gagged. I struggled to get my hands loose. I heard a bolt unlocking from above. I curled up on the bed and pulled myself into the corner. I was still in my pajamas and I was waiting for the person to come down.

Somewhere in my mind that red warning light was mocking me. It was as if it'd hung a huge 'I TOLD YOU SO!' sign on it.

I ground my teeth together as I heard footsteps. A tall rather average looking man came down the stairs. He had brown hair and as far as I could tell he had no resemblance to Edward, which meant it probably wasn't his father. That was a good thing… right? Was it better to know who had you or better to not know?

It didn't matter long because the first words out of his mouth were, "Hello Bella, I'm James." Fear cursed under my skin, this was not good.

I suddenly heard a familiar ringing. I looked at where the ringing was coming from, he was holding my phone. He looked down at it and showed me the caller ID on the outside screen. _Edward_ it read and I had to resist jumping up and grabbing the phone from him.

He flipped open the phone and put it on speaker phone. "Hey Bella, its Edward…" Edward's voice filled the room. "I'm sorry about last night; it's just that it hadn't really sunk in that he escaped… Bella?" He called through the room. His voice had the edge of panic in his voice.

"Perfect timing, Edward, I was just about to call you," James said a sadistic grin on his face.

There was silence for about one second, "What have you done." Edward demanded his voice angrier and fiercer than I'd ever heard.

"Oh nothing, yet… we're just waiting for your daddy to come and then we'll decide what to do with your girlfriend," James said, he grinned down at me. I glared and tried to pull my hands free. He put a hand on my shoulder to keep me still. My eyes watered, I wanted so badly to tell him that so far I wasn't hurt.

I could feel the anger radiating off Edward. "James, this is between my father, you and me, so leave Bella out of this," He growled.

"Oh what fun would that be?" James asked innocently, "But don't worry I'll let you talk to her right now."

He put him off of speakerphone and held the phone to my ear. He pulled the gag away from my mouth and I instantly said, "I'm okay Edward!"

"Bella, oh my God, it's good to hear your voice, but I'm so sorry for getting you into this. Don't worry I'll get you out," Edward promised.

My eyes watered, "Just do what you got to do, I'll be fine."

"Don't say that, please, Bella, just hold on. I'll work something out and get you out of there," Edward continued to promise.

A tear escaped my eyes, "I love you Edward, and just keep yourself safe." I whispered defeated. There was no way for him to save me without him getting hurt and I didn't want him to be hurt.

There was silence for a second, "I love you too Bella, just hold on, hold on for me." He said a desperate tone in his voice.

"I will if you will," I said tears rushing out.

"I'll do what I got to do, but I'll keep safe, don't worry Bella. I will make you safe." He said his tone made me hard to doubt him.

James pulled the phone away from me and the tears came faster and he pulled the gag back over my mouth. "Well Edward, I'll see you later," He said, "Until then." He hung up before Edward could say anything.

He smirked at me before going upstairs and I heard the door lock. Tears poured from my eyes and I lay down. I let myself fall into sleep. My dreams were of my angel just simply holding me and whispering comforting words.

**(Edward's POV)**

I sat on the couch, I'd told Carlisle about the phone call and he'd told the police, of course they'd already known because Bella's mom had called at 10 am when Emmett walked into her room and found her not there. Needless to say her other bodyguard is being questioned and he's been fired.

I stared off into space, _this is entirely my fault_, I thought over and over again. _This is your fault, everything is your fault_, my father's voice echoed in my head. I cringed after hearing his voice. My voice and his were in harmony the two weaving in and over out each other, both accusing me of this.

The whole gang was over, Emmett felt bad because he thought if he'd been there than Bella would have been safe. Alice was crying somewhere upstairs because she thought that she should have known or at least done something to stop this.

No one was here to comfort me. No one needed to try. It would be pointless anyways. Where they were just speculating over whether they could have stopped this, thiswas my fault. I am the reason she's gone. I am the reason she is going to be hurt, maybe even killed.

_You are the reason she loves you,_ a different voice interrupted the accusations. It kind of resembled my mother's voice.

_I swear to God I'm schizophrenic or something_, I thought to myself.

I suddenly yelled out in anger and jumped up, all the voices in my mind were slowly driving me insane. I wheeled around and punched right through a window. Glass cut into my hand but I didn't feel it or care. I growled and grabbed my coat. Carlisle had strictly said for me to stay indoors but I just couldn't.

I shouted, "I'm going out!" and I didn't wait for them to reply but I could hear motion upstairs and as I slammed the door I heard someone shout my name.

I hurriedly ran down the steps and hopped into the Volvo, Jasper usually drove it around even though he didn't like it all that much. I wasn't legally allowed to drive but I knew how to. I opened the glove compartment and pulled out the keys, yes it was stupid to put them there, but when you don't actually have a car and you don't have keys, and you know no one will give you them to let you drive around, its pretty helpful.

I put the keys in the ignition and turned on the car, listening to it purr to life. The front door burst open and I put my foot down on the pedal and floored it. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see that Jasper, Rose, Emmett and Alice were all standing there looked shocked and worried.

I sighed and put on the radio as I drove. I barely listened as I drove, but it calmed the nerves a little. I looked down at my hand that I'd punched the window with, it was bleeding rather badly and I ignored it.

I drove normally on the real roads, I didn't want to be pulled over, but I was going to a place I knew where I could just gun it and no one would really catch you.

I knew this huge field in the middle of nowhere you could just drive and forget everything. It was a few hours away but that I was okay by me.

I checked my rear-view mirror and sure enough I saw a familiar car following me. I rolled my eyes and drove a little faster towards the place I wanted to go. I drove for about an hour, I ignored my phone as it rang almost endlessly.

I was running, I knew that, but I couldn't stop. I just needed to go. Part of my mind wanted to pull over but the other wanted to keep driving. I kept driving, too afraid and ashamed to stop now.

I reached the place and grinned. I pushed the pedal down and shot across the abandoned field. Rosalie's car was right behind me. They pulled over and waited to see if I'd leave this place. I drove around in wide ovals for a few minutes. The field was surrounded by a fence and behind it were a few randomly placed trees.

My eyes had started watering and soon it was too hard to see and I debated just letting go and letting the wheel go its own way.

I decided that would be unfair to make the others see that, I could feel their eyes on me and I let the car slow to a stop. I broke into sobs and lay my forehead on the top of the steering wheel and broke down.

I don't know how long they let me sit there crying but the door cautiously opened and someone reached around me and unstrapped the seatbelt and pulled it out from around me and pulled me out.

They set me on the ground and I leaned against the car and cried into my arms. "It's my fault. It's my fault," I repeated constantly.

"It's going to be okay Edward, it's not your fault," Jasper said, obviously he didn't know what to say. His voice was somewhere above me.

The tears came out faster, "It's not going to be okay! You know it's my fault!" I yelled, "If I just left her alone she wouldn't be gone and she wouldn't be in trouble."

"Edward," Emmett's voice was closer. I figured he was the one who pulled me out of the car. "None of this is because of us. It's his fault. It's their fault."

"It's my fault!" I yelled looking him in the eyes. He seemed surprised by me outburst, "If I just did what I was told I wouldn't be in this mess and I wouldn't be here and I won't be hurting other people and my mom wouldn't be dead and he wouldn't have hit me everyday." Tears fell from my eyes and I wished my heart would stop aching.

I suddenly was hit in the back of the head. I looked up in surprise to see Rose's angry face. "Listen to me right now Edward. It is not your fault. It is their fault and you should know that. No matter what you did to make him stop hurting you he'd always hurt you. He would hurt you anyways, do you understand me? _He would hurt you anyways._ He is a cruel man who murdered your mother and damaged you beyond repair. If you did what you were told you'd still be hurt, your mother would still be dead and you would still be here." Rose said in the sternest voice I'd heard from her.

I stared at her in shock, tears still flowed from my eyes and I tried to get them to stop. Alice knelt by me, "Edward, it's okay, everything will be okay. Yes, it's sad and yes, it's going to be hard, but we can do it. We can do this. Bella's a fighter, and she loves you so much. Yes it makes me cry to know she's going to be hurt and you should cry for her too, but that won't help her. All I know is that I know she will be okay." She looked down at my bloody hand and frowned slightly but otherwise ignored it.

I sniffled and Alice put her arm around me and I leaned my head on her shoulder and let my tears run their course. We sat there for a while, in total silence.

Finally the sun looked a lot lower in the sky and my phone vibrated in my pocket. I had finally stopped crying a while ago and I groaned. I could bet who it was and I didn't want to answer.

"Finally feeling your hand?" Emmett asked looked at my hand.

"No… someone's calling me," I said and I frowned a little, "And I bet its James."

Alice's hand squeezed my shoulder, "Answer it," she whispered.

I pulled it out and put it on speaker phone. "H-hello?" I asked waiting for James' low voice.

"Hello Edward," I dropped my phone all together. It was my father.

Alice picked up my phone. She nodded to me. I just shook my head repeatedly with my eyes wide. She sighed, "Good afternoon, this is Edward and Alice. How are you?"

"I'm good thanks," I shivered at his voice, "Nice to meet you Alice. I take it you have no idea who this is."

"Not really," She answered honestly.

"Well my name is, ironically, Edward as well. I'm Edward Masen Sr.," he said in a falsely cheerful tone, "Edward's father."

I think everyone had gone three shades paler. I whimpered under my breath as his voice brought back memories of pain. "What do you want?" I asked making sure my voice didn't rise into a yell.

"Oh, nothing really, you've got a very beautiful girlfriend by the way," he said very nonchalance. "I'm calling to as for a trade."

I was literally shaking, "What kind of trade?"

"You for your girlfriend, jeez, Edward, don't you know me at all." My father said and I wanted to just scream I was that afraid and worried.

"W-what if I don't accept?" I asked my voice shook as I talked.

"Well," he said chuckling, "You can say goodbye to your beautiful Bella."

There was no blood in my face now. I opened my mouth to answer, I would take that trade any day, but Emmett was quick to cover my mouth. He nodded to Alice. Alice looked like had no answer.

"You don't have to decide now, little Edward, well actually from what James says, big Edward. I assume this is a difficult decision… or whatever. Honestly I wouldn't care that much about your girlfriend. It's just a girl." He said in a tone that made me want to yell at him. He made her sound like just any girl. Bella was so much better than 'just a girl' she was the most beautiful, brilliant, courageous girl I'd ever met.

I did try to say something but Emmett's hand made it pretty much impossible.

"Anyways, we'll be in touch," My father said and I hung up. Alice slowly closed my phone and Emmett released my mouth.

"I hate you!" I suddenly screamed at my phone. "Urgh," I growled, snatching up my phone and glaring at it. "This could be over now if you'd just let me answer his stupid question!"

"Edward, you can't go through with that deal," Alice said shaking her head.

"Why the hell not?" I yelled at her.

"Watch it Edward," Jasper growled glaring at me.

I glared back, "You watch it Jasper! I promised Bella I'd get her out, if this is the only way to do that than I have to do it."

"Edward, please don't do anything stupid or rash. We'll work something out. Please, just don't do this," Alice pleaded.

I turned away from them, staring out over the huge field. I felt all the pressure in side building up and I felt like hitting something or throwing something. I kicked a large rock on the ground and sighed. They were right of course; I had to take some deep breaths before I was able to agree.

I stared at the ground until I felt an arm around my shoulders, "Come on." Jasper said nodding towards the Volvo. I sighed and we walked back to the car. Rose and Emmett took Rose's car and Alice, Jasper and I took the Volvo.

**A/N: Okay, tell me what you think people! REVIEW! CUZ IT'LL MAKE ME HAPPPPYY!!**


	14. Hoping and Praying

**Hey peoples alright everyone say thank you to my new beta 2-10-11eyesFINGERStoes she should have dealt with any pieces of literature that are being stubborn.**

**sorry for taking too long but I've recently become obsessed with Smallville (blame my good friend Terrence) and so updates will probably come slower. (again blame Terrence)**

**Chapter 14  
(Edward's POV)**

Carlisle sat working on my hand. Esme was very disappointed about the window fiasco but she didn't really say anything about it.

Carlisle had heard about my father's phone call and didn't ask me much about it. I think he realized that I was way to stressed and emotionally strained to think much about it.

Carlisle had washed my hand and made sure there was no glass or anything in it. He'd applied some stuff that had stung like hell, but I'd been too lost in my thoughts to complain. He'd frowned a little when I didn't say anything because I usually complained a lot when he put it on.

As he wrapped up my hand he teased me by saying, "I recommend that you try not to write any essays at the moment and try not to punch any more windows, okay?"

I just stared at him blankly before staring off into space. He sighed, "The police will be over here again tomorrow and you have to stay here and wait for your father to call. They'll try to track the call or try to get you to set up a meeting place." Carlisle said and I nodded wordlessly.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked me, putting a reassuring hand on my arm.

"I just want this over with," I said quietly and he nodded and left me there.

The police had been over when Carlisle told them about my father's phone call. They thought that we, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Rose and I should stay together because it was obvious that they were targeting my friends and me.

They'd asked Bella's mom if she wanted any protection and if she wanted to stay here with us. She'd said no, she wanted protection, but she didn't want to be near me. She'd screamed at me that I was the reason her daughter was gone when they'd told her to come over. Carlisle had made her leave, and spent nearly an hour making sure I wasn't beating myself up about what she said.

I was, but I didn't show that I was. How was this not my fault?

I sighed and got up, I was going to go upstairs my room, but I'd have to pass by the kitchen were two cops were waiting in case he called now or later night.

I clenched my jaw, might as well get it over with. I walked into the kitchen and the two cops there nodded to me. They were seriously bad cop, good cop. One was absolutely giddy even though the situation was clearly stressful. The other was mostly silent and had a dangerous look in his eyes. It wasn't the same as the look that my father would have, his were full of anger and full of hate, the cop's eyes were simply ready; it was as if he was ready to jump in front of a bullet at any moment.

I smiled slightly and Esme smiled at me from the stove, "Are you hungry Edward? Dinner is almost ready…."

"Um… not really," I muttered as a loud ring started from my pocket. Carlisle said if I put it on vibrate I might miss the call so I put it on the loudest ring I had. I swallowed roughly.

Esme actually dropped the wooden spoon in her hand and her head whipped around to look at me. Both of the cops burst into action. The giddy one, I think his name was Brown or something, said, "Answer it!" as the other guy, Johnson I think, called the station.

I heard the others coming downstairs as I opened my phone and held it to my ear. "Hello?" I said into it. Carlisle walked into the room and sat down on one of our stools and watched me.

"Good evening Edward," as my father's cheerful voice rang out of my phone I shuddered.

"Uh… hi," I said not really knowing what to say to him. Somehow 'hi dad!' didn't really fit.

Johnson mouthed 'is it him?' and I nodded. He waved me over and I came over to him. He plugged my phone into something he had assembled on the table that connected to a computer and nodded to me.

"Now, now, Edward," he said and his voice came from my phone and the computer. It was quieter on the computer. I assume so that the others could hear but he couldn't. "What have I taught you, it's 'hello sir,' not just 'uh… hi.'" He said mockingly.

"Uh…" I shifted feet and I cast a glance at my friends and Esme. She looked like she wanted to run over and hug me. I looked down. "Hi sir…" I visibly shuddered.

He laughed, "See James, I've finally trained him."

My other hand turned into a fist. One, what he said bugged the hell out of me, and two, James was there, that meant Bella was there. I could hear James laugh in the distance.

"Alright, well the real reason I called is I wanted to know how you and your little friends are doing… oh, and including all those cops in your fake family's kitchen." Everyone in the room froze.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not missing a beat. There were flaws in his sentence, little ones that told me he was lying. Plus he had that lying tone that he often had used on my mom.

"Oh, Edward, we're not that stupid. Obviously you contacted the police and they're there monitoring this phone call. You should know that this phone is untraceable so you've got nothing anyways." He said nonchalance.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't tell anyone, I'm not that stupid." I said and licked my parched lips.

"I honestly think you are that stupid and if you're not in the kitchen than where are you?" he asked as if he could trap me with that.

"I'm in my room," I said instantly, "It's nicer than the one I had in Chicago by the way." I decided that over the phone I could piss him off a little; it wasn't like he could reach in through the speaker and strangle me.

He laughed, "Silly Edward, the more you make me angry the more Bella pays for it." He said practically reading my mind and my eyes narrowed at what he said. "Oh, and she's asked for her one phone call. She wants to talk to you."

I froze in place, "Wouldn't she want to talk to her mom?" I asked feeling confused.

"Well I assumed she would have, but apparently she wants to talk to you so here she is before I change my mind," he said starting to lose his patience and Bella's voice filled the speaker.

"Edward?" She asked instantly. I could hear the fear in her voice.

I looked at the cops and they nodded and Brown mouthed, "Ask her if we're on speakerphone."

I nodded, "Hey Bella, are you okay?"

"Ya, I'm okay."

"Am I on speakerphone?" I asked her.

"No," She said and I smiled.

Johnson held out his hand for the phone but I held up a finger, "Bella, can you swear to me that you're not on speakerphone? Can you promise me that I'm not?" I asked her.

"You're not, Edward, I swear. I promise," her voice was firm and strong.

I smiled, and said, "Okay, hold on Bella, we're going to get you out." I handed the phone to Johnson.

"Hello Ms. Swan, I'm Agent Johnson with the LAPD and I would like to ask you if have been injured," Johnson's voice was calm and I took a deep breath as I waited for the answer.

Esme came over and wrapped me in her arms as Bella answered, "A little, not much. I'm sure it could be worse." I buried my face in Esme's shoulder. She rubbed my back.

"Alright, I would like you to know that we're trying very hard to get you out of there. I assure you, you'll be safe again Ms. Swan."

"Okay," she said and he handed the phone back to me.

"Bella?" I asked from Esme's arms.

"Yes Edward?"

"I love you, please don't get hurt."

I heard her sniffle a little, "I love you too Edward, please don't do anything stupid."

I nodded, "I'll try if you try.

"So will I," She said and hung up.

I closed my phone and melted into Esme's arms. Tears were threatening my eyes again and as Esme held me they slowly escaped.

**(Bella's POV)**

I closed the phone. I'd told the truth, they weren't on speakerphone, they never were, but I understood why he'd made me swear it.

Having the police assure me did practically nothing. I knew the only way to get me out of here was to give them Edward.

It was odd, I had asked for Edward. Any other day I would have asked for my mother or for Alice or even my father, even though I didn't have his number.

I sighed, I had bruises over my arms and my cheek was sore from when James had slapped me because I called him names because he insulted Edward.

It was actually really stupid, I shouldn't have done it, but he was talking about how Edward was stupid and how he'd fall for his father's plan. I'd called James and idiot and that Edward would never do that, so he'd slapped me.

Edward's father had the same hair as him, but not the same eyes. He always looked angry and I always was afraid when he was in the room.

Edward Sr. took the phone from me, "Well, James, I say you go and get us some food… oh and bring something back for dear Bella," He said and James nodded.

"A few of the others are coming up to help, I forgot to tell you," James added as they climbed the stairs.

"Excellent, hey, maybe we'll have a little party with Bella and maybe we'll invite Edward," Edward's father laughed and they slammed the door shut.

I took a deep breath and got up. I went to the bed post and started rubbed the rope against the hard edge. I'd been doing this for a while and it was starting to look a little frayed.

Once I was tired I sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall, I sighed. I didn't have much of a plan; I simply wanted to know that I had some control. I wanted my hands to be free so I had the ability to fight back if I needed to.

I climbed back onto my bed and lay there. I closed my eyes and prayed and hoped that I got out of here, but I also prayed that Edward would remain safe, no matter what happened to me.

I curled into a ball and whimpered softly, praying and hoping.


	15. Jacob

**Hey everybody! I know pitchforks and and other assorted pointy items are coming my way any second now because of my lack of postage... but this chapter is good... I swear... and there should be no mistakes either! I sent it to my beta, the lovely 2-10-11eyesFINGERStoes -applause follows the name around like a stray dog- (for all those who didn't get my weirdness... it basically means that people follow her around clapping lol)**

**ANYWAYS!**

**READ AND REVIEW AND KEEP THE POINTY OBJECTS TO YOURSELF! thanks amigos! (I'm not actually Spanish, and I can't really speak it very well... me llamo 'if anyone knew i would.' Soy de Vancouver! yep, that's about it.)**

**Chapter 15  
(Edward's POV)**

Over the next two days none of my family was allowed to leave the house, except Carlisle. We signed all sorts of official papers and I am now officially a Cullen. I'm surprised to find that it doesn't feel any different.

Masen or Cullen, I still felt like crap about Bella and I still was hunted by my dad. Although, I did get to stay with the Cullens and the thought that I could never be taken away from them and put in another foster home, was a thought that made me smile.

The TV hadn't been touched in three days and I was beginning to wonder why. Yesterday when I asked Esme where the news paper was, she was flustered for a minute before she told me that she must have misplaced it.

Something was going on in the outside world that no one wanted me to know about, and I was determined to figure out what it was.

When no one was downstairs, I picked up the remote and held it in my hand. Did I want to really know? What if it was bad? What if it was nothing?

I took a deep breath and turned on the TV. I turned to CNN and I stared at the screen.

They were covering the story, our story. My story was posted all across the news. I stood there a long time watching it. There were two people debating on things. The question that arose shook me to my core.

_Is this Bella's boyfriends' fault?_

I watched as they both exploded with their opinions. One was saying how this couldn't be my fault because I was only trying to live. If I was to distance myself from everyone I cared about, then I wouldn't be living a good life. The other one's saying that, although, I didn't intend on this to happen, it is my fault. I watched them battle it out. It seemed the one who thought it wasn't my fault was winning.

I watched as they talked and I didn't even hear them enter. I glanced over to see Rose, Emmett, Jasper and Alice watching the news from the door. I just looked at them. I breathed deeply. Alice smiled at me a little and I looked down. Alice walked over and turned off the TV.

She walked straight up to me and said, "You heard them, this isn't your fault."

"It's a pretty thin line between whether it's my fault or not," I said looking down.

"Edward," Alice's voice was hard, yet somehow I think she was going to try and comfort me. "The carpet isn't that interesting and he took her, not you." She then smiled and left the room.

I smiled slightly, that little pixie of a girl knew exactly what to say sometimes.

My phone vibrated once and I looked at my pocket in surprise. The words that played across the screen told me I had a text, so I figured it would be okay to check it out. I opened my phone and looked at the message.

I quickly snapped my phone shut. A cold drip of fear slid down my back.

I controlled my breathing and looked around. Jasper and Emmett were watching me with confused looks, but Alice and Rose had left.

I swallowed, "Emmett, Jasper, I need your help, and it's at the utmost importance that you don't tell anyone what I did or where I went."

Jasper frowned, but Emmett looked excited. "What do you need?" Jasper asked.

"My dad wants a decision, he needs me to meet him somewhere," I said feeling shaky.

Jasper's eyes went wide and he immediately said, "We have to tell the cops."

"No!" I hissed, "Jasper as my unofficial brother you've got to help me. He'd know if there was someone else there. I just… I need you two to cover for me."

Emmett shook his head, "Edward, that's suicide, you need us to cover your back. I'm going whether you like it or not."

I looked around, "Okay, here is really not the place, let's go to the garage to talk."

**(Bella's POV)**

I awoke to the sound of the bolt moving from the upstairs door. I sat up and waited for either James or Edward's father to come down. Instead a girl with red hair like flames came down walking almost strait up to me, followed by a tall man who kind of hung back.

"Well, well, well, you must be Bella," she said in her high voice that reminded me of a little girly girl.

I nodded cautiously and I heard more footsteps. "Victoria," James said almost sounding in relief. I could see the love in his eyes and I couldn't understand how he could be so evil yet love this girl.

"James," She exclaimed and flung her arms around his neck, they shared a passionate kiss to which I felt extremely awkward to watch.

Apparently the other guy did too because he cleared his throat loudly. "Hey Laurent, how's it going?" James asked him extending a hand.

"Fine thanks, I hear we're going after the kid today," he said casually and I glared at him. My ropes were nearly broken and I was close to being free. If we really were going to see Edward today that meant that I at least had a fighting chance. I could break the rope and we would both escape.

I sighed; unfortunately I don't live in a fairy tale. My prince wasn't going to ride in with shining armour and save me. He was just as afraid of the villains that captured me as I was. Although, the most important difference was that I was no princess. I was the imposter; although I dressed and acted like a princess, I was just the maid that was made out to be one. Why did I deserve the happily ever after?

My thoughts were interrupted by footsteps. Edward Sr. walked down the steps with a rope in his hands. I watched him approach me. "Now Bella, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, I don't want to hurt you. I'm just going to gag you and then we'll be on our way to meet Edward." His voice was way too calm for my liking.

I glared at him and backed away, I wasn't going down without a fight. He came after me and caught me in the corner of the room. I struggled but he eventually got the gag around my mouth. I screamed in protest, but it hardly made any noise through the cloth. I guess my fight was over.

I was dragged upstairs and into the back of a van. I looked around the dark van as I heard it start up. I quickly worked to find something sharp so I could feel my hands. I found the edge of something and started sawing away at the rope. It broke after a little while and I grinned, I wouldn't be going down without a fight after all. I quickly unwrapped the rope from my wrists and pulled the cloth from my mouth.

I looked around to find something I could use to escape or at least find the back of the van. I moved around trying to find where the door was when the van stopped. I threw out my hands to break my fall and looked around wildly for a place to hide.

Light flooded the back of the van from behind me and I turned quickly to see Edward's father. I swallowed, this could get ugly. "Well, it seems someone is a little more resourceful that I thought. Come on, Edward will be here soon." He said reaching in and grabbing my arm. I struggled as he pulled me from the van and I looked around.

We were in some sort of warehouse from the looks of it. "What if he doesn't show?" James asked Victoria practically hanging off him.

Edward's father looked at James with a smirk and said, "I know my son, he'll show."

"He's changed since you've known him," I whispered, anger in my heart. Edward wouldn't do this. He wasn't that stupid.

Edward's father suddenly gripped my hair and made me look up at his face. "You little bitch, I know Edward much better than you do so I would keep your pretty little trap shut." He released my hair and I winced.

James pulled a gun out of the waistband of his jeans and cocked it back; Edward's father gave him a curious look. "Just in case, Edward can be stupid sometimes." Edward's father nodded and took out his phone, he called Edward.

_Edward, please, don't show_, I thought over and over again.

**(Edward's POV)**

I was about to leave. Jasper and Emmett were going cover for me, but I knew they really weren't. They were going to tell Esme the second I walked out the door. I pulled my jacket on and looked at my window. This was the only way.

I opened the window and started to climb down. I heard a loud knock when I was halfway down the terrace that was covered in vines. I hurried my pace down the side of the house. I heard someone call my name as I jumped from the terrace and ran around the side of the house. I heard more yelling, I needed to get away before they got to the garage.

I ran in the garage and jumped in the Volvo. I snatched up the keys I hid and turned on the engine and drove out of the garage. I had to slam on the breaks in order not to hit the person in front of me. He was tall with black hair and dark skin. His eyes were like black coals.

I frowned; I'd never seen him before. "Hey, wait!" He called his hands up, palms facing me. He ran over to the passenger door and climbed in.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked feeling totally lost.

"I'm Jacob, Bella's dad sent me." Jacob said and I heard some yelling and he shouted, "Drive!"

I stepped on the gas and we shot out and away. As I drove I glanced at him. "What do you mean her dad sent you?"

"See, my dad and her dad are friends and I'm a photographer and he was always upset about how her mom took her away so I said that I would go and take pictures of her so he could see. Her mom won't let Bella near him and she would think I was just another paparazzi guy so I would never be caught. It was kind of weird but I was pretty much everywhere she ever was so I could make sure she was okay for him," Jacob said as I drove.

"So do you know where she is?" I asked hopefully.

"No, I'd been doing my actual photography work that night so I wasn't around. I curse myself for that, but I got to make money to live here. Anyways, I've been tailing you for a while and I want to help," he said smilingly slightly.

"Why didn't you just come out and tell her you were taking pictures for her dad? She wants to see him too," I said parking along side a small playground. I was waiting for my dad to call.

"Well, I didn't really know how she felt about him. I assumed she wanted to see him, but I couldn't be sure and if I exposed myself and told her about it she might not like it. Then she'd be looking for me everywhere and I'd never get any pictures." He said and frowned slightly, "Why the heck are we here?"

"Waiting for my dad to call," I said sighing. "Well I got to say, it's kind of weird, following her around taking pictures of her…." I wasn't sure how to feel. One way he was taking pictures of my girlfriend, one way it was the only way her dad could see her.

"Ya, I know, but he's desperate, I was afraid he'd come down and do something stupid and so I kind of just took a few pictures, showing him that she's happy, that's all he wanted. To know she was happy," Jacob said sighing and leaning back in the car seat.

"So… it was you at Twilight, right?" I asked and he nodded. "So why did you take a picture of all the others if you're just looking for Bella?" I asked my eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well, I couldn't very well just take a picture of her; you all would think it was weird that only one of you got your picture taken. Plus Charlie, her dad, likes know that she's hanging out with good people and I wanted to show him her friends," Jacob explained.

I was going to say something but my phone rang. "Hello?" I said instantly.

"Hello Edward," my father answered.

"Where do you want me to go?" I asked him, I was completely serious now. I couldn't stand it that he held all the cards. I couldn't stand it that he knew me this well either, he knew I'd go. No matter what, I'd be there.

He told me the address to an abandoned warehouse. "Oh, and Edward," he added, "You better not try anything stupid, because I would hate to have to kill you and your girlfriend."

I sighed, "I know, but you'll stick to the deal, right? You'll let her go and you'll get me in return." I knew I couldn't trust him but I just wanted to hear him say it.

"Yes, she'll go free," he said and I breathed a little easier. "See you in 10." I said and hung up; I looked at Jacob, "Get out."

"What? Dude, you are not going there by yourself, and I know where the place is," He tried to plead with me.

"Get out," I repeated the anger in my voice was obvious. "Get out!" I yelled when he didn't move. He jumped slightly and got out.

"Edward, don't do this, don't be stupid. People can help you if you let them," He said pleading with me.

"I don't need anyone's help." I growled and reached across and closed the door. I peeled out of the parking space like an expert and shot off across the back top. A glance in the rear view mirror showed me Jacob putting out a cell phone and dialling before holding it to his ear. I'd have to hurry.

**A/N:** **REVIEW!! HEY! AND I SAID TO KEEP THE POINTY OBJECTS TO YOURSELF! -fights off hord of little brother clones carrying pointy objects- I gots to go deal with the little minion of the anti-Christ. ADIOS AMIGOS! (oh and study for a spanish test that I think is somewhere in the future...) (oh and I'm sorry if I totally butchered some spanish back there... anyways I got to go!)  
**


	16. Rescue

Hey people! Christmas has come early this year ;P for all those who want to know how i freed myself... i cleaned the kitchen from bottom to top without anyone telling me to and my mom was like 'holy crap...' and ungrounded me.

-devilish smile- sometimes i just amaze myself.

anyways here y'all go!

**Chapter 16**

**(Bella's POV)**

I was gagged and blindfolded again, but this time I had the luxury of being tied to a chair. I sat there and tried not to let the panic take over. There was a lot of movement and then it was completely silent. I was shaking as I waited. Would they shoot me if he didn't show up? They were obviously planning on causing Edward pain. So who did I want to die? It was between Edward and I, and I held onto the small sliver of hope that no one would be hurt.

I counted in my head to keep me calm. I was at 762 when I heard tires squeal in protest outside. I cringed and waited in fear. I heard running footsteps and a bang of a door hitting a wall. "Bella!" Edward's voice after so long was like a lifeboat. I pulled on my bonds while I waited for him to reach me.

The blindfold was the first to go and I opened my eyes to see his beautiful green ones. He pulled the gag from my mouth and let it hang around my neck and I whispered a thankful, "Edward."

His hands touched my face, as if he had to see if I was really here. "Bella, my beautiful Bella," he whispered, a strong happiness was shinning from his eyes.

He looked down and started to work on my wrists. I glanced behind him and screamed, "Edward!"

He started to look behind him when a metal pipe connected with the side of his head. I screamed and thrashed, trying to escape to help him.

Edward lay on the ground, his head bleeding slightly, but, miraculously, he was still conscious. His arms tried to lift him but they were like wet noodles, unable to hold his weight.

Edward's father chuckled. "Well, son, it's good to see you," he said as I continued to struggle. Edward Sr. pushed Edward onto his back with his foot.

Edward panted and glared at his father, "You are not my father."

Edward Sr. shook his head as he looked down at his son, his foot came down on Edward's chest and Edward gasped in a few struggling breaths. "Whether you like it or not, I am your father."

It pained me to see that it was actually hard for Edward to breathe and stay awake. I felt tears in my eyes and I continued to try and pull my hands free. The wrist that Edward had been working on was loosened and my hand was nearly free.

"You are no longer my father," Edward gasped out every word, "I'm a Cullen now."

Edward Sr.'s face darkened. He brought his foot down, harder this time, on Edward's chest. "How dare you accept to be adopted by those liars who call themselves 'your new family'. They will betray and hurt you, Edward," Edward's father yelled down at him.

"And you won't?" he growled back, wincing slightly as he was kicked in the side.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" I yelled as I continued to try and pull my hands free. I was so close; any second now I'd be able to slide my hand out.

"Shut up!" He yelled at me and glared down at his son.

I saw James, Victoria and Laurent come out of woodwork. James walked over to Edward's father and whispered something. He nodded and looked down at Edward. "You've done something stupid son," Edward Sr. said as if he was scolding a small child.

He looked at me and held out his hand towards James. James handed him the gun and Edward Sr. pointed it at me. My heart seemed to stop as Edward screamed, "No, Bella!" and I heard a loud bang. I gasped in a breath as searing pain erupted from my stomach. Tears poured from my eyes as I screamed in pain.

**(Edward's POV)**

Victoria and James knelt down and Victoria held me down as James tied my wrists together. I kept screaming and trashing, refusing to look away from Bella.

Bella had tears running down her face and her shirt was growing rapidly red. I was pulled to my feet and I struggled to get them to off of me to save her. She looked at me and I could see the pain in her eyes. There was something else there too, she'd given up. Her eyes slowly started to close and I screamed and thrashed more. I heard a commotion outside as I was thrown into the back of a van. I started screaming Bella's name. I was desperate for her to not give up, desperate for her not to die, and desperate to see that she was okay.

I felt the van lurch and start driving and I could hear the commotion outside. Something was going on and all I could hope for was that I'd get out of here and that Bella would get medical attention immediately.

I could hear police sirens and that brought me a glimmer of hope. I tried to sit up and move, the van swerved sharply and my head connected with the side of it, and judging by the almost sickening banging noise that my head made on impact, I'd say it hit it pretty hard. Plus considering my head's current condition of being used as a baseball for a metal pipe that was being used as a bat—I blacked out immediately.

**(Jasper's POV)**

We'd called the police as soon as we realized Edward had made a run for it. They kept us posted on what happened, and we got a call that someone gave them a call telling them that he was going to an abandoned warehouse. We followed in the car. When we got there, there was police everywhere, talking and discussing and doing whatever else that cops do, and there was an ambulance. I jumped out the car, ignoring Carlisle's yells and ran inside the building.

I could hear footsteps behind me but I didn't care. A cop yelled at me to stay back from the crime scene, but I ran under the rope anyways. I ran in and stopped. Around the chair in the center of the building was a pool of blood and a few feet away from that was a stretcher with someone on it. I couldn't see who. My heart ached at the possibility that either Bella or Edward was hurt or dead and I ran over there.

I only got a glimpse of her before a nurse started towards me. "What happened?" I asked the nurse as she started to push me away from her, "Bella! Bella, where's Edward!? Bella, wake up, please wake up!" I yelled. I couldn't stand to see my friend like that. I heard soft, quick footsteps and I realized that Alice was with me. Another nurse came and they both started pushing us away.

"Please, what happened to her?" Alice asked, tears in her eyes.

"She was shot in the stomach, we're working on her, but you have to stay away. The cops are following the van that took the boy," the nurse that was pushing me finally said.

Alice suddenly broke into sobs and I took her in my arms. "They took Edward, Jasper; he's as good as dead!" She clung to me and I hugged her back. I wished so fiercely that Edward would be okay, but I knew better than to put too much faith in that.

We went back out to Carlisle. He was talking to a police officer and we went out over to them. There was a cop talking into a radio nearby, suddenly he said, "There has been reported gunfire, everyone, move out."

I swear that every single cop was suddenly getting into a car, all except the one talking to Carlisle.

I stared helplessly as the cop cars pulled away. Carlisle walked over to us. "Come on, let's go to the hospital and wait for Bella to wake up."

"Carlisle-"

"Jasper this is not the time to argue. Now let's go," Carlisle said, his voice a little more strained than usual.

I nodded and climbed into the back of the car with Alice. She was still sniffling slightly, and I put an arm around her small frame. She closed her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder.

We drove to the hospital behind the ambulance, so we got there in record time. We weren't allowed to see Bella until after the surgery, so we had to wait in the waiting room for a while. Rosalie kept pacing and looking around as if she was a trapped animal. Emmett was sitting back with his arms crossed and I could tell he was a little more than stressed out. Alice was lying against my shoulder, half asleep, I think, and Esme was talking quietly with Bella's mother. I think she was trying to calm her down. Carlisle was with the doctors trying to save Bella.

Carlisle came around the corner and we all jumped up, well except Rose who was already standing. He smiled, "She's going to be fine."

There was a lot of cheering that followed that. Alice hugged me tightly, happy tears flowing from her eyes. "You can go see her now, she's asleep, but she's mending."

Bella's mom wiped tears from her eyes and went over to Carlisle, thanking him a thousand times before she went down the hall towards her daughters' room.

"I suggest we give Bella's mother a minute or two before we go in," Carlisle added before we could move to follow her.

Carlisle sat down and we sat down as well. None of us asked when we could go; we simply waited for Carlisle to get up. I watched the receptionist make calls and answer calls. She got a call and she nodded and did something, suddenly the waiting room was full of doctors and nurses.

Carlisle stood and went over to the receptionist and he nodded and went outside with a few of the other doctors. Alice, Emmett, Rose and I went to the window to see. An ambulance pulled up and the doors flew open. "Oh my God," Alice whispered.

I guess they got the other guys because Edward was lying unconscious on a stretcher and his head looked pretty beaten up. From what I could tell at least one of his legs were broken and so was his wrist, but it looked minor next to the damage that was inflicted on the side of his head. His bronze hair was a fiery red and his face was pale.

"What's going on?" Esme asked and we all quickly spun around.

"Nothing," Rose said immediately, "Esme, just… sit and… don't look outside, okay?"

"Why?" Esme asked looking confused.

"Because it's gross, just don't look," Alice said burying her face in my shoulder.

Esme nodded and looked away from the door and the window, they brought Edward through and I looked at him. I was very thankful he was unconscious, because if he was awake, I couldn't even imagine the pain he would be in.

They'd just rolled Edward away when I saw a kid burst into the hospital. He was probably 6 feet tall, but obviously a teenager. He had black hair and eyes and reddish skin. He looked around and saw us, "Hey, you guys, how's Edward and Bella?"

We stared at him blankly. "Who the hell are you?" Emmett asked with about as much tact as an angry goat.

"I'm Charlie Swan's unofficial private investigator," the boy said.

"Hey, wait a minute;" Emmett said glaring at him, "You're the one from the club!"

He winced sympathetically, "Ya, I know, I never meant for you guys to spill your secret like that. I wasn't ever going to show the picture to anyone, just Bella's dad… he worries about her."

"So… you're stalking Bella, for her dad?" I asked feeling confused.

"Ya, I know, kind of creepy, but Bella and I go way back, so if she did see me, I'm pretty sure she'd remember me. I'm Jacob by the way," he said and we all told him our names, even though he probably knew them.

Esme looked at her watch, "I guess we can go see Bella now," we nodded and she paused. "Who are you?" she asked Jacob with a look of confusion.

"Uh…"

"One of Bella's friends," Alice answered for him, "No cameras, got it?" she hissed at him.

He nodded, "Scouts honour," he muttered smiling.

When we got there Bella's mom was leaving, "Uh, you can go on in, I'm just going to get something to eat."

Esme nodded and talked to her for a moment as we entered. I've never seen Bella look so fragile, even in the movies, she looked like you could breath on her and she'd shatter into a million pieces.

Alice went right to Bella's side and whispered in her ear. I wasn't sure what she was whispering, or if she could hear it, but it seemed to make Alice feel better.

I couldn't see much of Bella, except her arms and what was above her shoulders, because it was covered with a blanket, but her face and arms told me enough about her ordeal. Her arms were covered in bruises of multiple colours and her face was pale and slightly sunken, like she hadn't eaten in a while. There were a few bruises on her face as well, and her hair was a mess of tangles.

Emmett took in a deep breath, "Urgh, I feel like a total loser, it's my job to make sure this crap doesn't happen," he grumbled. Rose rubbed his arm and smiled at him comfortingly.

"Don't beat yourself up over this, Emmett," I said watching Bella. It made me worry about Edward, how was he doing? Only time would tell how this would turn out.

**(Edward's POV)**

A haze of memories passed through my head as I drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness. I was awoken by sirens and I was still in the van. We swerved again and this time, I felt the whole van tip. I reached for something to hold me, but I tipped with everything else.

I landed roughly and my left leg exploded in pain, the right one followed as we continued to roll. Everything hurt and I lost count of how many times we tumbled. I was being thrown all around and my right hand managed to grasp something to keep me still, but that didn't stop things from hitting me.

I was jerked a certain way and the wrist that was holding onto whatever it was that I was holding onto snapped in an unnatural direction, resulting in an ear shattering scream. Lights appeared in front of my eyes and I had one constant thought in my mind, pain.

My head hit something hard, and I blacked out, again.

The next time I awoke I was aware of a crunching noise. I was wedged between two solid objects and my wrist and both my legs were on fire. I groaned and I heard a voice call to me, not calling my name, but I knew they were calling to me. I tried to look in the voice's direction, but something warm blocked vision in my left eye. My chest ached and it was hard to breathe, "Help," I begged in a raspy voice. I heard movement in another direction, I heard yelling and I cringed, I wanted everything to be quiet.

I felt people around me, but I couldn't open my eyes, "Don't worry, we'll get you out," someone said and I groaned again.

I was freed from my prison of crunched metal and I was pulled onto a stretcher. "You're lucky kid, you must have one hell of a guardian angel to get wedged between the metal there. Everything else got bashed to pieces or bashed everything else to pieces," a different EMT guy said, at least I assumed he was an EMT guy.

I gave a short laugh, it hurt too much to laugh, "I know," I whispered almost to myself. I always felt like my mom was watching over me, even though it never seemed like it. I faded away again

This time when I blacked out, I didn't wake up again. From under the pressure I could feel my chest aching. I wanted to scream out in pain. I felt several strong zaps, each fading a little more as time went on.

I was suddenly in a field it was an oval and the sun was shining brightly above me. I heard someone call my name and I turned. A woman with brown hair and sparkling green eyes smiled at me. I smiled at my mother, "mom," the word didn't make a noise on my lips, but she heard me anyways.

I ran over to her and into her arms. She held me tightly in her arms. She took my face in her hands and looked at me, "Edward, my baby Edward, what are you doing here?" she asked me.

I looked around; this place was the picture of perfection. I couldn't be… could I? "I don't know," I answered feeling confused.

"Oh Edward, I'm so sorry I never had time to take care of you," she said, tears in her eyes, "I love you Edward, but this place is not for you."

I shook my head, no, I was afraid to leave. My chest felt a zap again and I shook my head, the pain was coming back. "No mom, I want to stay with you," I pleaded.

She looked down and back up at me, "I know, I want you to stay too, but you can't. Bella needs you, and you need her. Listen to me sweetheart. She loves you and you love her… don't let that go."

I felt a painful zap and I gasped, the whole scene started to fade, "Edward, I love you. I'll always be looking out for you."

"No, mom!" I reached out for her hand, and it felt like I was being dragged backwards. "I want to stay with you! It'll hurt if I go back!"

Her fingers wrapped around my mine, keeping me here for a little longer. "Don't be afraid, Edward, everything will be okay." Her fingers released mine.

She faded and I was surrounded by darkness.

When I opened my eyes I was staring at the ceiling of somewhere. I tried to remember what happened, I could remember flickers, but some of it was lost and a lot of it didn't make sense.

It kind of hurt to try and remember. I stopped trying and started to try and understand what was happening now. There was some sort of bandage around my head and my wrist.

I looked around me. Esme was resting in a chair on my left, holding my unhurt hand. Jasper was sitting in a chair, asleep as well. There was a window to my right and I could see Rose through it. She was facing away from me and I wanted to call to her, I didn't care if she yelled at me, I wanted to know she was really there. She turned slightly more away from me and I could see her smiling at someone or something in the distance, and then she walked away.

I sighed, which caused pain to my ribs; I guess I'd have to wait for the others to wake up before I got to speak with anyone.

I lay back down and closed my eyes. I heard the door creak open and three sets of footsteps and something else. I debated opening my eyes, but my past had taught me that if I wanted to know what other people didn't want me to hear than I had to pretend I couldn't hear them.

I heard someone sniffle, "He looks so broken," Bella's voice nearly made me open my eyes. Instead, I smiled slightly. She laughed lightly, "Is he smiling?"

I heard Rose laugh slightly, "Ya, I guess, he's been doing that a lot. Esme says that he's dreaming."

"I wonder what he's dreaming about," she spoke quietly and I heard a pair of footsteps approach and I heard something rolling, but I couldn't be sure what it was.

"Do you really need to ask that? What the heck do you think he's dreaming about?" Alice said and I was surprised to hear her. Where did she come from?

Emmett's booming voice surprised me more than Alice's, "Ya, I mean really Bella, there are only four things men dream about, women, cars, food… and women."

I was full out grinning now. I chuckled softly, my ribs hurt from me doing that, "Emmett, not all boys are perverted," I said, my eyes slowly opening to see the love of my life staring right back at me.

"Edward," her voice sounded relieved.

"Hi," I whispered.

I looked down slightly; I was surprised to see she was in a hospital gown and in a wheelchair. "Why are you in a wheelchair?" I asked.

"Well they don't want me walking around yet," she answered, "Can you remember anything?"

I blinked and waited for any memories to arise, "About what exactly?"

"The crash… anything," Bella said and I closed my eyes.

I tried to remember the crash. I remembered black, there was a lot of black, my forehead wrinkled in concentration and I had to let it go because it hurt.

I groaned and Emmett said, "Edward, relax, its okay if you can't remember. They said you might a little memory loss considering you were hit in the head a bunch of times."

I opened my eyes slowly, "I remember darkness… and pain… nothing else."

Bella looked at me sadly, she touched my cheek. "Well hopefully it'll get clearer."

An elderly nurse came in and smiled at me, "Well hello Mr. Cullen, I need to sedate you again, too many injuries for your body to cope with." She said as she came over to all the wires and tubes near me. It took me a second realize she was talking to me. I grinned; I was no longer tainted by that evil name. I felt like a whole new person. "Ms. Swan, you should go back to your room. Your doctor wants to see if he can discharge you soon."

"Will I be able to leave soon?" I asked her.

She smiled sympathetically at me. "Unfortunately you've broken several bones in both your legs. In order for you to really leave you've got to relearn how to walk."

I stared at her in shock, "W-what?" I asked, my voice shaking. How the heck are you supposed to relearn how to walk?

Bella looked at me, sadness in her eyes. Alice started to wheel her out as the sedatives started to kick in.

When I woke again Carlisle was there and Esme and Jasper were actually awake this time. Rose was in the room this time too.

I stretched a little, my bones cracking as I moved. "Edward, honey, don't move too much," Esme whispered pushing hair from my face.

I looked at her and smiled. My bed was a little more propped up this time, so I was almost sitting instead of lying down. She held my hand, stroking the back of it gently with her thumb.

Carlisle smiled at me, "How are you feeling Edward?" He asked stepping closer to me.

"I'm okay," I said closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. My ribs ached a little, but it was manageable.

He nodded, "Does your head hurt at all?"

I chuckled, "That's kind of a stupid question, don't you think," I said and Jasper chuckled while Esme gave me a scolding look. "I have a headache and it hurts to try and remember what happened," I said trying to remember past picking up Jacob and kicking him out of the car and driving towards the place where Bella was.

He nodded, "Your head was injured rather badly, and you might not remember a few things for a while."

I nodded and kind of just let my body lie there. "Bella was discharged yesterday, she said she was going to come and visit today," Jasper said leaning back in his chair.

"Mmhmm," I said, my eyes closed and trying to ignore the protest of my ribs.

"Well I'll tell your nurse you're awake," Carlisle said as he left the room.

I sighed; Rose spoke then, "Some people came to see you."

"Really now," I said in a tired tone. My body was so over worked I just wanted to sleep, but I wanted to wait for Bella.

"Ya, Adam and a few kids from school came by. Adam looked pretty upset to see you like this," Jasper said looking at his hands.

Something told me that Adam had cried. Adam doesn't cry unless something is really hard for him to see. He and I were pretty close and we often talked about stuff that was bugging us. He knew about my dad and he was a good friend, always looking out for me. Whenever he got angry about the stories I told about my dad he'd get all fired up and start saying that one day he was going to get back at my father for me. Adam always promised me, swore to me, that if my father tried anything ever again he'd be there for me.

I sighed, "Is he okay?" I looked between the two for answers. Esme smiled fondly at me and brought my hand to her lips, kissing my fingers softly.

Rose shook her head, "You're lying in a hospital and you're worrying about your friend?" She sounded like she thought I was an idiot, which knowing her, she probably did right now.

I rolled my eyes as Jasper said, "He's okay, a little upset about all this, but he's okay."

I nodded as a nurse came in, "Welcome back to the living Edward," She was a different nurse from the one before. She was way younger. She was tall with obviously dyed blonde hair and dull grey eyes. She wore a long white lab coat and knee high black stiletto boots clicked and clacked as she approached my bed. She had big gold hoop earrings in her ear and I half expected her to blow a bit of chewing gum as she got closer. "That was a close call during your surgery, wouldn't you say?"

"Huh?" I looked at everyone else; I was so confused about what she was talking about.

She looked around at the others, "No one told him?"

"We thought it would be would be better to wait until he was better," Esme said sharply. Clearly whatever I wasn't being told had struck a cord.

"I don't see why it's such a big deal, he went into cardiac arrest and had no beat for a few seconds, it's not like he's dead," she said, smiling wickedly.

Esme was on her feet in an instant, "Either do your job and leave or leave now and get someone else to do it," she practically growled at the girl.

She looked at Esme like she couldn't care less what she thought before walking over to my bed and pulled out a syringe and emptying the contents into a tube that connected with my wrist.

I wanted to talk to someone about the fact that I had nearly died, but no one seemed to want me to. My eyes drooped and I looked at Esme sleepily.

Rosalie was glaring at the girl, "Try anything like that again, bitch and you'll have me to answer to," she snarled at the girl.

"Whatever," she said, swinging her hair behind her shoulder with her hand and left the room.

I fought to stay awake. I didn't want to sleep now. "Edward, relax and go to sleep," Esme soothed, she was blinking too often. She did that when she trying not to cry.

"Esme," I said, slurred, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She touched my face, "We'll talk about it later, please, get some rest Edward."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes; there was no fighting it now. My mind kept replaying the dream, was it really a dream or did I really see my mother?

A/N: :D reveiw? please? pretty please? PLEASEEEEEEEE??? I'll give you a cookie...


	17. Memories

**Chapter 17**

**(Bella's POV)**

I walked down the hall of the hospital with a box of donuts and coffees. My mom had made a whole parade out of my life about how I was back, but I was only interested in seeing Edward. My midsection was tender and I still looked a little beaten up, but I was doing okay. I was doing better than Edward anyways.

Jasper and Alice had filled me in on everything that had been going on. I was a little more than upset to learn that his legs had been broken in two places each and walking was going to become a new challenge. They said that he would be able to though, it would just be hard at first.

My mom was constantly asking me to break up with him, but I couldn't. I loved him too much to ever let him go.

I knocked before entering his room. Jasper opened the door and smiled at me. "Hey, I thought you guys might be in need of refreshment," I said, holding out the box.

"Hey, thanks," Jasper said smiling as I entered. He set them on the table near Edward's bed and took a donut before sitting down.

Rose bounced over and grabbed a coffee. "Cream and sugar?" she asked me and I threw her a few of the little packets they gave me when I bought them. Once she'd added a sugar packet and two creams and took a sip she asked, "So how's it going Bella?"

"I'm alright, no sit ups for a while, but that's okay," I said smiling. I sat next to Esme. "Can I get you anything, Esme?"

"No dear, I'm fine, I'm just worried about Edward." Esme said sounding like a true mom as she held his hand.

"Oh, come on, Esme, what happened to that fire you had before when you were dealing with that bitch?" Rose asked.

"Rosalie, just because she… it's no reason to call names," Esme said, straightening up a little.

"Esme, she told Edward about how he went into cardiac arrest! She was fishing for something to piss us off," Jasper said and took an angry bite of his donut.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked feeling confused.

"Okay, so, this crazy nurse comes in and starts going on about how his surgery was a close call and how he went into cardiac arrest and nearly died and all this stuff. We didn't tell him because he was already dealing with enough than to be thinking about how he nearly died," Jasper said; he was obviously fuming.

I nodded, "You should have kept that from him. He didn't need to know about that," I stared at his face. He was calm in his dreams, I wondered if he would be upset when he woke up. "Did he say anything about it?" I asked them.

"He looked a little upset that no one told him, but other than that he seemed okay," Esme said, still stoking his hand.

"Well I'm sure he'll be fine. You would have told him sooner or later and there's no point in worrying him or having him think about it too much when he should be focusing on getting better," I said nodding.

Carlisle entered the room then, "Hello Bella, how are you?"

"I'm doing okay," I said nodding and smiling, "My mom's going a little crazy with interviews and things but its okay."

He picked up Edward's Medical chart and read it. "Well according to this he should be awake in a half an hour, they want to do some tests to see how he is coping with his injuries," he said nodding.

Esme looked at Carlisle, "What kind of tests?"

"Mostly memory tests to see if there is any serious damage to his memory," Carlisle said in a calming tone. "Don't worry; he's probably going to be fine."

**(Edward's POV)**

As I resurfaced again I mentally sighed, _here we go again_, I thought. Every time I wake up they put me back under. The others were talking about something, I wasn't really sure what.

I actually sighed; my chest ached a little less now, and opened my eyes. "Hi Edward," Jasper said the instant I opened my eyes.

I blinked and looked at him, did he ever leave? I noted that Esme, Carlisle, Jasper, Rose and Bella were in the room.

"Hello Edward, feeling any better?" Carlisle asked coming over to the side of my bed and checking a few of the machines.

"Ya, actually, I feel a lot better," I said smiling a little.

He smiled at me, "Good, a few doctors will be in shortly to see where you are memory wise." He looked back at the machines.

I nodded and glanced over at Bella. I smiled, "Hi, you feeling okay?"

She beamed, "Ya, I'm feeling great. I'm so glad you're okay." She looked a little choked up for a second, but managed to hold it together.

I tried to sit up a little more and my bones cracked. I winced slightly, "Okay, moving is still out of the question."

Esme smiled and rubbing my hand again. "Lay back down, sweetie, you're still mending," she said and I looked at her. I remembered what happened last time I woke up, I smiled at her to show that I wasn't angry with her.

I lay back down as a few doctors came into the room. "Hello Edward, I am Dr. Robertson. I'm sorry but can everyone, other than Carlisle of course, leave the room while we do the tests? It's less distracting."

Esme nodded and squeezed my shoulder as she got up. Bella, Jasper and Rose left with her and Carlisle stood firmly beside my bed.

"Okay, we're going to ask you a series of questions about your past and do a few other mental tests to make sure everything is working," Dr. Robertson said.

I nodded and they begun. They first asked me about my earliest memory. It was pretty awkward to answer the question because my first memory was from when I was 5 or something like that and my parents were screaming at each other and my father threw a plate onto the ground and shards of it went everywhere and a few nearly hit me. Carlisle looked down at me the whole time with an expression that was fighting over whether it was concern or, surprisingly, anger.

They asked me my favourite food, my favourite song, my least favourite vegetable. They kept firing questions at me I felt like they were playing that stupid quiz game where someone asks a question and you just say the first thing that comes to mind. They asked who I loved the most and I was kind of embarrassed that the first thing that came out of my mouth was 'Bella'. The doctor just smiled at me and continued.

Then they started asking hard questions, "Can you tell us everything that happened from when your father called you and told you where to go?"

I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes momentarily, "I was in the car… with Jacob." I winced slightly and a picture of my father glaring down at me flashed in front of my eyes. I cringed and blinked a few times. "I drove to a warehouse," I practically whispered. Another picture of my father with a gun pointed at Bella. I heard the shot before I closed my eyes, trying to forget. I heard erratic beeping in the background. I groaned, my head was pounding, I wanted to forget. I didn't want to remember anymore. My hands went to hold my head as the pain increased, evidently my mind didn't want to remember, and right now I wasn't about to force it to. Unfortunately I felt like my mind was unravelling, all my memories were passing through my head and I wished my brain had a temporary off button.

"Edward," Carlisle's calm voice broke thought the haze of pain and chaos.

My memories from when I was younger started passing through my head. My father's insults, his crisis, his abuse, it all came at me in waves. I groaned, "Shut up!" I yelled, I was answering my father's voice.

I heard a loud pounding in my ears; it must have been my heart. "Stop it! Leave me alone!" I yelled at my father, I knew he was an illusion, but I couldn't help myself. I just wanted it to stop.

"What's going on?" Bella's frightened voice brought me back a little.

I didn't heard what the doctors said, but, suddenly, I felt Bella's warm hands on my cheeks. "Edward," She said softly, calmly.

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. The pain started ebb away. "Edward, can you hear me?" She asked me. I nodded, unable to speak just yet. "Open your eyes," she said firmly yet softly.

I slowly forced my eyes to release and I opened my eyes to see Bella right in front of me. She made me heart soar, she was so beautiful. The heart machine was reacting erratically for a different reason now.

"Listen to me, I'm going to tell you something and you're going to nod if you can remember, okay?" She said and I nodding, my head was still pounding, but less.

"We were in a warehouse," she said slowly. I nodded, "I was tied to a chair." I winced as I saw it. I felt like everything was under a really dirty and fogged glass. I nodded. "You ran over and pulled the blindfold from my eyes and the gag from my mouth."

I could see her in front of my eyes. I had run over to her, calling her name, and had pulled it from her eyes and mouth. I had been desperate to see her beautiful brown orbs. My head pounded as I nodded.

She looked a little choked up; I guess this was as hard for her to think about as it was for me to think about. She wanted to forget all about that, but here she was, trying to help me remember. "You touched my face, almost as if you couldn't believe I was really there. You started to untie my wrists." She waited for me to nod.

I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. I could almost feel her cheeks on my fingertips. I could practically feel my fingers trying to undo the ropes that held her to the chair. My mind started to skip ahead a little and my eyes watered a little and I nodded for her to continue.

She took in a shaky breath, "As you were trying to free me, your father came up behind you and hit you with a metal pipe." A tear slid down her cheek, "You fell down and tried to get back up. I tried to help you, but I was still in the chair." Another followed the first and she sniffled. I nodded; I could remember that, when the pipe connected with my head my eyes felt like they exploded. All they saw for a few seconds was a bright light. "Your father kept you on the ground, he rolled you over and you told him that he wasn't your father," She smiled a little and another tear fell.

I nodded, I could remember that. I had been so angry with him. I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to feel one-tenth of the amount of pain I felt.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Carlisle watching Bella and I. I knew the other doctors were watching as well. I could hear hurried writing. I guess they were writing this down.

"He kicked your chest and he told you whether you liked it or not he was. You told him about how you were adopted by the Cullens and-" Bella broke off. She blinked a few times; she let out a choked sob. "He kicked you harder." She seemed unable to go on for a second.

I remembered the pain; I felt a tear go down my cheek. I nodded, my head continued to pound, but I was somewhere else. I was back, feeling and thinking about what happened. "He yelled at me," I whispered, "Told me that they'd betray and hurt me...." I said and I glanced at Carlisle. He had a calm mask on his face as he listened to me. "I… I said… 'And you won't?' right?" Bella nodded. I took a deep breath, my ribs resisted a little. I nodded, I could remember more now, "and he kicked me in the side." Carlisle looked at me with concern.

My beautiful Bella, my Bella who was in pain from watching me in pain, nodded, "I told him to stop it, to leave you alone and he told me to shut up." She sniffed, "And then James came in…"

I gasp as my mind seemed to open up immediately. It was like someone suddenly decided to clean off the glass that was keeping me from seeing clearly. I shook my head, "No, no, no," I whispered tears pouring from my eyes, "No, he didn't, he couldn't have."

Tears fell from Bella's eyes, "Edward, your father shot me, they tied you up and put you in the back of the van and drove away," she said in a shaky voice.

I shook my head, I didn't want to believe it, but I could see it in front of my eyes and I knew it was true. Tears fell from my eyes. "He hurt you, and I'm exactly like him, I'll only hurt you," I whispered.

Bella shook her head, "No, no Edward, you are nothing like him, you will never be like him." She stroked my cheek, wiping my tears away.

I reached up and wiped tears from her cheek, because of me she'd been hurt so badly, but she was here. She was still helping me. I smiled and relaxed, I looked at the doctors, who were dead silent.

Carlisle watched me with concerned eyes. I swallowed and smiled a little at him. I was so thankful for him. I'd probably be dead long ago if he hadn't taken me in.

Bella looked me in the eyes, "Can you tell me what happened after they took you away?" She asked me.

I stared at her, trying to think of what happened. I licked my lips before closing my eyes and lying back. "I was in the back of the car… and I heard sirens…. The van turned really fast. I hit my head and I blacked out," I paused, opening my eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "I woke up again, and the van tipped over." I could almost hear the crunching of metal. "I hurt my left leg… and the other." I squinted at the ceiling as if it held the answers. "I got a hold of something… but we tipped and my wrist got hurt. My head hit something else and I blacked out again." I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose, my eyes squeezed shut. "When I woke up, the EMT guys were pulling all the metal apart." I paused and stared off into space.

"Then I was in a meadow," I whispered. I continued to stare at the ceiling but Bella and Carlisle were suddenly in my view. Carlisle looked concerned and Bella looked worried. I stared past them, "My mom was there… she said she was sorry," I paused frowning at the ceiling. "There was… this weird pain in my chest, like a zap, every so often. She told me… she told me to go back…."

"What happened then?" Bella asked, looking more worried now.

"I told her I wanted to stay," I whispered, staring at the ceiling in wonder. Bella looked like she had been punched in the gut. "It didn't hurt there… it would hurt to go back…." I paused and glanced at Bella's slightly tortured eyes. "But… I went back anyways…." I frowned, trying to remember. "She said we needed each other," I whispered looking at Bella.

She smiled and she looked like she might cry again. "I really do need you," she whispered kissing my cheek.

I smiled and sighed, "I woke up then with Jasper and Esme… when you came with the wheelchair?" I felt so confused, why was she in a wheelchair again?

She nodded. She kissed my forehead, "That's right. They didn't want me to walk around too much so they let me go around in a wheelchair." I nodded, that seemed to make sense.

Carlisle looked relieved now, "Well…" he sighed, "I guess that's all the tests today."

I nodded and said, "Can I go to sleep? My head still hurts a little."

Carlisle nodded, "They'll give you something for the headache."

I nodded and closed my eyes, but not before smiling at Bella. I wanted to tell her then. I wanted the whole world to know it. I wanted the whole world to know that I have fallen in love with Bella Swan.

**(Bella's POV)**

I stepped out of the room after Edward had been given pain medication and had fallen to sleep. Carlisle followed after and patted my shoulder, "Thank you, Bella. That was truly amazing."

I sighed, "It's no problem." My phone beeped and I looked down. It was reminding me that I had an interview to go to. I sighed again, "I have to go, call me when he walks up or if anything happens."

He nodded, "Well, bye, I have to go as well," he said and smiled a little before walking down the hall.

I looked around for Emmett; I was more dependent on him than ever before. I headed down the hall; he was probably in the waiting room.

I walked down the hall, and as I turned the corner and went down the last hall before the waiting room, there suddenly was flashing lights in front of my eyes.

"Ms. Swan, Ms. Swan!" voices called and I winced at the bright lights. I held up my hand to block the light from my eyes so I could see a little better.

Questions flew faster at me then I could process them. I felt a strong hand on my elbow steer me away from the noise and confusion. I was still seeing stars and I shook my head to get the bright lights out of my eyes. I'll admit, I was panicking just a little… okay more than a little. I was just bombarded by the paparazzi and now some unknown person is leading me to some unknown place. I looked at the person leading me and I had to crane my neck to see his face.

His black hair and dark eyes seemed so familiar, and yet for the life of me I couldn't remember who he was. He smiled brightly down at me, "Hey Bella, remember me? I'm Jacob, from Forks?" His smile fell a bit as I continued to stare at him blankly. "Our fathers are friends," he said shaking his head a little. His smile was completely gone and the fact that I couldn't remember him.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, I'm a little confused right now…. I'm sure that I'll remember in a minute or two."

He nodded, "We uh… we used to hang out… at the beach… in La Push." He looked away from me and my mouth fell open slightly.

"Oh… oh," I said in recognition. "Now I remember," I whispered. He was there. In fact, he was the reason we were there in the first place. It was his birthday, and Charlie wanted to go down to see Billy and him. We went to the beach… that's when I nearly drowned. That's why I went to live with my mom and that's why I'm famous today, because my mom took me with her and went loony and made me go into acting and singing.

He took a deep breath and looked down at me, "I'm… I'm sorry things turned out like this."

I smiled slightly, "That's okay, so, what are you doing here?" I asked as we approached the waiting room.

"Well," he chuckled, "I'm a photographer now, and I'm kind of working for your dad."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

"Well, see, he kept saying how he wished he could see you again, and I felt guilty because you were at the beach because it was my birthday and all. So I kind of volunteered to stalk you and give him pictures of you so he could see that you were okay," Jacob said quickly and actually winced like he was afraid I'd hit him or something.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Thank you," I finally whispered. His eyes widened as he looked down at me. "I've always wondered if he wanted to see me or if he was trying to…. Now I know he was always trying to." Tears were at the edge of my eyes.

He smiled, "Wow, I'm glad, everyone thinks I'm some kind of creepy stalker. I mean, if there was any other way, he'd have done that in a heartbeat. This was the only way to see you without your mom totally freaking out," he said nodding.

I nodded and took another deep breath. This experience with Edward's dad had taught me something. If I didn't fight for want I wanted it would be taken from me. My whole life I'd stood by and let other people control my life. I moved around with my mom when I wanted to stay with my dad. I went into acting and singing when I wanted to be a normal girl. I did interviews and auditions and concerts when my mom told me to when all I wanted was to go out and have a cheese burger with some friends or go to a movie or do whatever it was that kids do.

Edward and I were not the same in that way. He had taken control of his life, after years of his father beating him he actually managed to get out of there. He was so much stronger than I was. I didn't say what I wanted when Edward did. If Edward and I switched places, he wouldn't have let this go on for this long and I'd be in Chicago, or worse, dead.

When I met Edward, he changed me somehow. When my mom said no, I said yes. She didn't stop me from dating Edward and she won't make me do what I don't want any longer. After all, it was Edward, my brave Edward, my knight in shining armour, Edward, who saved me, not her. Edward did want he had to do. He walked right into that warehouse knowing he and I were in danger, but he did it anyways. He stood up for himself in front of his father and it was time I did the same.

As we walked into the waiting room, Emmett jumped up from his chair and was at my side in a second, "Hey Bella. Your mom just called to tell you that you've got an audition later today."

I took a deep breath, "Tell her that I'm going to miss it."

"Okay… you do realize she's going to kill you and me for not going right?" Emmett said with a small smile.

I nodded, "I know, but I don't want to act anymore."

Emmett's smile got a little bigger. "Well bring on the champagne! Bella's going for the kill."

I smiled and shook my head at my over muscled friend, but it was true. Pushover, timid, cowardly Bella was gone. Confident, secure, brave Bella was here.


	18. T is for Tanya

**Hey peeps, I survived dental surgery... yayyy! I had my wisdom teeth removed... and I'm only freaking 15! I also got four other teeth removed because apparently my jaw isn't big enough for all my teeth or some weirdness and I have to get braces soon. I forget which fanfic I told before... so I'm telling all of them now! Well here is my Christmas/New Years/Sorry, it's back to school present to you all. I may be a little late, but hey, whoever accused me of being on time is a liar and should be hunted down and fed blue potatoes!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you've heard before, basically Twilight Characters and like... anything else.**

**Claimer: I own the plot and all original Characters.**

**Have fun and inform me if there is any mistakes that my beta and I missed.**

**Read Away!**

**Chapter 18**

**(Edward's POV)**

Two weeks passed without much incident. My body healed and today was the first time I was going to be able to try to walk. I was pretty excited about it, but also pretty worried. I wanted to be out of this bed, but I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. As far as I heard, magazines were charging big bucks for the first shot of me since the incident. Jacob had jokingly asked for a shot so that he could pay his rent. I almost felt bad enough that I nearly let him, but Carlisle had offered Jacob to stay with us until this was sorted out. Jacob took it, saying thanks a billion and one times.

The hospital was on full paparazzi watch, waiting for Bella and me to make an appearance to the world. Bella's picture had been plastered over every celebrity news show and every magazine. Everyone kept asking what had happened and what was going to happen now. Bella answered every time, "You don't want to know, and I don't know."

Until now anyways, according to the TV in my room, and Jasper and Alice, Bella was going to quit singing and acting. She says that she'll occasionally do a movie or TV show or write a song, but she would not be actively doing it anymore.

I wonder what she'll do now, because her mom is seriously pissed off at her.

Jasper and Emmett helped me move from the bed to the wheelchair that I'd been allowed to roll around in for a week. I headed for the door before any of them could catch up. I scuffed at them, "None of you can keep up with a cripple?" I asked them as I rolled into the hallway and skilfully managed to turn so I was rolling down the hall.

"One, you're not a cripple, and two, you're heavy, and three, slow down! I know you're excited about walking and getting out of the bed, but cool it!" Jasper called as they ran after me.

I chuckled and stopped. Jasper grabbed onto the wheelchair and started wheeling me towards where we were supposed to go.

"You're no fun," I muttered and Emmett laughed.

"Just wait, the paparazzi are around here somewhere," Emmett said, "One picture and you'll be the most googled thing since… something huge."

I laughed, "Right, well, you guys get to watch me try to walk. This will be sad." A hint of my worries were showing through my cheerful attitude.

"Hey, Edward, don't expect to be able to walk right away, okay?" Jasper said leading me into a room that had a few weird looking exercising machines.

I nodded, "Yes doctor," I teased.

One of my doctors and Carlisle were waiting for us there. They ran me though all the cautions, again I might add.

I was eyeing the long walkway with two long handle bars, it looked a mile long to me, but really it was about only a metre and a half. I hardly heard what they were saying, but I knew what they were talking about.

I wasn't supposed to push myself too far, which was bull. I'd push myself as far as I needed. I was supposed to go slow, and I already knew I would. I would be in snail city for a while. It was going to hurt, and if it hurt too much I had to tell them. My doctor clearly didn't know me. I never said when I was in pain, Carlisle knew that, and I knew he'd be looking for the signs.

They first had to help me to stand, that was interesting. They gave me crutches at first so that I could get over there, but the instant I put my weight on my legs they hurt. I restrained a wince.

They helped me over to the bars and I stared at the walkway, "So… I got have to go to the end right?" I asked staring down it.

Carlisle and my doctor nodded. I nodded and grabbed the bars on either side. Jasper took the crutches from under my arms. _Let the pain begin_, I thought as I took the first step. Most of my weight was on my arms and yet my legs were on fire. I shook my head slightly, trying to get the pain out of my head. I took another step and another. They were slow and agonisingly painful.

I worked to keep my face clear from any sign of pain. It was hard and the fact that I could see Carlisle watching every emotion on my face was stressing me out. I took another and pictured Bella at the end of the walkway.

All I had to do was make it there and it would stop. It wouldn't hurt anymore. That was a lie, it would still hurt, but at least I could get the weight off my legs.

I could feel the sweat on my face as I took another step. Two more steps and I knew I couldn't do it anymore. I winced and used my arms to lift my legs off the floor. There was a sharp numb feeling in my legs and I opened my mouth for the first time since I begun and gasped in a breath, Carlisle was instantly at my side. "Do you want to stop?" He asked. I refused to look at him.

I swallowed and looked at the distance between me and the end. There was no way I'd make it there in one piece. I took a deep breath, it shuttered on the way out. I shook my head, no, I didn't want to stop. He didn't ask the right question. He should have asked if I could go on.

He watched me for a minute, "Scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, how much does it hurt?"

"11," I said swallowing roughly, I still hadn't looked him in the eyes and my arms were getting tired. My newly healed wrist was beginning to protest my efforts to keep my feet off the ground.

I slowly brought my feet to the floor as Carlisle said, "Edward, I think you've had enough today."

I glared at the far wall; I had to make it to the end. I knew I couldn't, but I had to. I took another step, and another. Carlisle saying that I'd had enough was like him saying I couldn't. I could, if I pushed hard enough, I could. "Edward, you have to stop," Jasper said, suddenly at my other side.

I ignored them, I took another step. My knees were growing weak and my legs felt like they were about to break again. I felt a pair of strong arms around my waist lifting me off the floor. I sighed, in thanks and annoyance, as Emmett grabbed me around the middle and pulled me back to the beginning and he and Jasper placed me in the wheelchair.

I sat back in the chair, exhausted. Carlisle looked at me disapprovingly and the other doctor was writing furiously. I closed my eyes, my legs were throbbing, but I smiled. At least I'd walked that far.

Jasper and Emmett wheeled me back to my room and put me in the bed. I closed my eyes right after I got there. I was so tired and I saw Jasper pacing, I could tell he was worrying about me. He turned to lecture me or something like that, but by then I was drifting off to the land of dreams.

**(Bella's POV)**

I walked into the hospital; cameras were following me everywhere lately. I had my shades on so that they could take as many pictures as they wanted and I wouldn't be blinded.

The staff stopped them from following me to Edward's room. Today was the first day that he'd try to walk. I couldn't wait to find out how it was. I hoped it didn't hurt too much, but I knew it would.

I entered the room and Edward was sleeping. Jasper was shaking his head at Edward and Emmett was chuckling. "Hey Bella," Emmett said and I smiled.

"How was he?" I asked going to sit beside Edward.

"He was… good… I guess, he walked like 9, 10 steps," Emmett said, but Jasper didn't look happy.

"That's good isn't it?" I asked looking between them.

"Ya, it is, except he was pushing himself. If he walked 9 then he should have stopped at like… 6 or something," Jasper said, shaking his head. "Carlisle even told him to stop and he didn't."

I looked at him in confusion. I knew that if Edward pushed himself too far he'd hurt himself, but what was the harm in pushing himself a little? "Well, isn't it a good thing that he's pushing himself?" I asked Jasper.

Jasper looked like he was debating it. "Well, yes it's a good thing, but no one wants him to hurt himself more than necessary just to prove to us that he can walk."

"Maybe he was proving it to himself," I said shrugging, "He's been in here a while. Walking again means he can get out of his bed and it means he can get out of here soon. Maybe he just wants to know that for himself, like he wants to know for himself that he is nearly there," I said and Jasper looked thoughtful.

Emmett was looking between us like it was a tennis match. "Well, I think he did okay. Carlisle didn't look too happy though."

Jasper nodded, "I guess he was really in pain though, because I couldn't even tell, and I usually can. He was expressionless practically the whole time."

"Ya, and then he like passed out as soon as we got here," Emmett said sounding too cheerful for the moment.

I shook my head at Edward. He was such a crazy boy. "So, Bella, how's your mom dealing with the whole anti-famous act you've got going on?" Jasper asked with a small smile.

I chuckled, "She's furious to say the least. I think she would have kicked me out if I was old enough."

"Well, you're welcome to stay with us," Jasper said with a small laugh.

I laughed, "Ya, I know, everyone stays at your house, Jasper," I paused for a minute thinking. I sighed, "Maybe I should find a place to stay though, I mean, I'll turn 17 in a few months and I'm ahead in school so I'll be finished soon," I said, stroking Edward's hand absentmindedly.

Jasper patted my shoulder, "Like I said; you're welcome to stay with us."

"Or you can stay with me if you want, my parents would flip if you came to live with us," Emmett laughed. Emmett's parents were always amazed that he got a job being my bodyguard.

Edward stirred under the blankets and I looked at him, smiling slightly as he slowly woke up.

He made a soft humming noise as he rubbed his face, "Hey," he said his voice thick with sleep as he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Hi, how did the walking go?" I asked him with a smile.

He shrugged, "Okay, I guess." He glanced at Jasper who was sitting quietly in a chair by the window. "So… how's your anti-acting and singing war with your mom going?" he asked me.

I smiled slightly, "Uh, its good. It's not much of a problem," I said and glanced at Jasper and Emmett. I seriously hoped they didn't say anything.

He smiled, "I'm glad," he said and I smiled. "Hey, did you guys bring my laptop?" Edward suddenly asked Jasper and Emmett.

"Yes, Edward, we did, you've been playing with that thing for the last three days," Jasper said, pulling his white laptop out of a bag and handing it to him.

"Do you need the table thing?" I asked him pointing to the table thing that they use to put his food on.

He looked at it for a second before smiling and shaking his head. He opened up his laptop and started to do something.

I glanced at Jasper and Emmett. I had no idea what he was doing and I didn't think they did either. "What are you doing?" I asked him trying to lean over and see what he was doing.

"Oh, nothing really," He said absentmindedly and he clicked on something, "Sometimes I write songs, other times I just look up stuff and read stuff."

"Really? What have you written so far?" I asked trying harder to see now.

He smiled and angled the laptop so I couldn't see, the more I leaned over to see the more he angled it away. "Edward," I laughed as I reached for the computer.

"They're not done; I still need to get the notes down. I only have the words and some idea for the tune. I'll show you some other time," Edward said smiling slightly. I smiled, sighed and sat back, pleased that one day I'd hear the, no doubt, beautiful melodies.

We sat and talked for a while longer. Every once in a while Edward would look at the screen and type something in or click on a few buttons, but mostly he just sat and talked with us.

I had to leave a few hours later, so I kissed Edward softly on the lips before exiting the room. I walked out of the hospital and got into my car. I drove back to my mom's house, thinking about my future and just what I would do with the rest of my life. Lately, the hospital felt more like my home then my mom's house. I headed straight for the stairs; my mom and Phil were out tonight.

I was silent as I wandered through the house that once felt like my home. I thought about what I could do for a job. What job was there that people wouldn't look at me and instantly think of me as a superstar? Although I was done with that part of my life, it would always be there. It would be my forever present, yet haunting, past.

I passed by the kitchen, putting my bag down, I looked at the old cook book that rested on the counter. Edward's words fluttered through my head like the beating of butterfly wings.

_He smiled, "Hey, why did you bake a cake anyways?"_

_I shrugged, "Felt like it."_

"_You could sell your cakes I bet," Edward said randomly._

_I snorted, "I doubt it."_

Now that I thought about it, I probably could… and even if people just bought my food because I was famous, what did it matter? I loved to bake and everyone who'd tasted my food loved it. Why couldn't I do that? It wasn't the career choice my mom would have chosen for me, but right now I wanted it more than anything. I just wanted to go somewhere quiet, open a bakery shop and make cakes and things all day.

I smiled at the random thought, it might be nice, but I wasn't prepared for that yet. Maybe one day I would start something like that, but right now I just wanted to be with Edward.

I went upstairs and climbed into bed and went to sleep. I lay there telling myself that tomorrow would bring even better times as I drifted to sleep.

**(Jasper's POV)**

I sat watching Edward sleep. It had been a month since he got landed in here. It seemed all I did these days, other than go to school, was come to the hospital and watch over Edward. He was a good kid, but it became apparent that he needed someone to constantly watch him.

Edward had a bad habit for wanting to get out of bed. The last time he managed to get up, walk across the room and out into the hall before Esme caught him. Edward was constantly trying to get up and get out.

We all knew he wanted to get out of here, but he was still forgetting stuff. Yesterday, he looked at me like he'd seen me for the first time before he snapped out of it. His doctors were worried he had gotten some sort of brain damage and they were keeping him here for monitoring.

Bella has been amazing to him. She's been here every second she can and doing whatever she can to make him feel better.

Life was getting so much more complicated though. The paparazzi were still trying to get a picture of Edward, and Bella was being constantly pestered by people. I could just imagine what his life would be like when he actually got out of here.

I was brought out of my train of thought as Edward stirred slightly. He blinked open his eyes and I smiled at him. He looked at me, his eyes unfocused for a second, "Hi Jasper," he said smiling.

"Hey Edward, sleep well?" I asked as he stretched and sat up.

"Ya, sure," he said and I noticed him look away slightly. I wondered if he was lying, or if he was just thinking about something else.

I heard a knock at the door and I turned around to look to see who it was. It was Rose, "Hey, um… Jasper, can I talk to you?" she asked and I nodded.

I glanced at Edward; he looked like he was going to stay there, so I got up and followed Rosalie into the hall.

"We have a slight problem," Rosalie said, looking down the hall.

"What is it?" I asked her, I had no idea what could be wrong, but I was worried.

"Well, there is this girl in the lobby, who is refusing to leave without seeing Edward," Rosalie said and I frowned.

"Who is she? How does she know Edward?" I asked feeling confused. A lot of people wanted to see Edward, but hardly anyone did. A lot of people demanded it and they usually were told to go away.

"Urgh, something with a T. Tanya or something, and she said she knew Edward when they were little… like when he lived in Chicago," Rose said looking a little annoyed at this person.

I frowned, Edward had never mentioned her. I looked back at the door to Edward's room and reached over and opened it. Edward stood, with his ear to where the door would have been, and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," he chuckled nervously.

"Edward, do you know anyone named Tanya?" Rose asked her arms crossing over her chest.

His face paled slightly, "Oh… ya… I know her… at least if we're talking about the same one. She used to be my friend in Chicago… she moved up to somewhere in Alaska a few months before child protection services took me out of my parent's house. Why?" He looked confused. Apparently his attempt to hear our conversation didn't work so well.

"She's in the waiting room and she won't leave until she sees you," Rose said looking peeved.

Edward raised an eyebrow at her, "So… let her in then," he said as if it was obvious.

"Edward, we don't know anything about her. She could be a total psychopathically evil woman who is planning on murdering you in your sleep," Rosalie said throwing her hands up.

Edward's eyebrow rose higher. He looked at me and snorted, "And you say that my head is messed up," he said and Rose looked like she might smack him. Edward shook his head, "Rose, I know Tanya, she probably just wants to see that I'm okay."

"Well she can bloody well read about it in the tabloids!" Rose growled.

"Rose, just let the girl see Edward," I sighed and Rose sighed and walked off. I looked at Edward, "And you, get back in bed. You're supposed to be resting."

Edward rolled his eyes and walked back to the bed, "So, this Tanya person, she's not actually some psychopathically evil woman who is planning on murdering you in your sleep, right?" I joked as I took my seat and he rolled his eyes.

"She was my best friend," Edward said looking me in the eyes. He looked down smiling slightly, "She nearly convinced me so many times to tell people about my dad. I seriously doubt she'd go through all that trouble, and then do me in now."

I smiled slightly. If Edward was right then this Tanya person can't be too evil. There was a soft knock on the door and I yelled that it was open. Rose entered and a blonde girl with pale skin and yellowish brown eyes stood followed her.

I glanced at Edward and he smiled at her. The girl smiled broadly, "Edward," She said smiling.

**(Edward's POV)**

Tanya was a good person. When we were little we used to play pretend that we were somewhere else. She did everything she could in the little time we had to make me forget what would happen when I went home. She was always wondering about my bruises and always made up an excuse, but she saw through it all.

On so many occasions she nearly convinced me to leave, saying that I could live with her and her family. I never did though, I always went back to my family and she went back to hers.

When she moved I was so upset, she said that one day she'd come back and save me, but I knew she wouldn't. I remember all the letters she sent, my dad got them and got rid of them before I ever even got a chance to read them. They eventually stopped coming and I thought it was for the best.

I smiled at her as she stood in front of my bed, "Hi Tanya," I said and I watched her swallow and look a little upset. "Uh… Jasper, Rose, could you give us a minute?" I asked them and Jasper smiled slightly and nodded.

Jasper paused before leaving. He looked at Tanya and said, "Hey, make sure he doesn't get up."

I rolled my eyes and sighed as he left the room. Tanya smiled again and asked, "So… how are you?"

I grimaced, "I've had worse. They're just being a bunch of babies by not letting me out of here."

Tanya shook her head, rolling her eyes, "Same old same old with you." She sat down in a chair and looked me in the eyes. They were suddenly filled with sadness, "I'm sorry… that you got hurt…."

"There was nothing you could do to stop this," I said watching her.

She frowned, "Ya, I know… you're probably right, but still…," she paused and looked up at me, "How come you never answered my letters?" she asked quietly.

I sighed and rested my head against my pillow, "Because I never got to read them."

She frowned, "Why? How come you didn't…?" She was silent for a second, "Oh… oh crap, Edward. I'm so sorry… he didn't hurt you too bad because of it did he?" she asked her eyes full of worry.

I smiled slightly, "Its okay… it's all in the past," I said waving it off. "How are you?" I asked honestly. Tanya was always a happy person, but she was upset every time she heard about people she cared about being hurt.

She smiled, "I'm doing okay, my parents are still oblivious, of course," she said rolling her eyes.

"What about this time?" I asked with a smile. My parents might have been horrible to me, but Tanya's parents were amusing, at least to me. They were completely clueless about everything. They were good people, just forgetful and they tended to not notice stuff. Or at the least they ignored anything they didn't want to hear.

She sighed, "Just about everything. I mean seriously, they haven't even called to ask where the heck I went."

I stared at her, "You left without telling them?" I suddenly yelled.

She stared at me in surprise, "Uh… well… ya…. I had to make sure you were okay. Plus they would never let me come down here without making a scene and they'd never allow me. They went berserk when they heard about you and Bella and how you were abused. They didn't even know and they got all weird with me about how I didn't tell them, even though I tried," she said as I started to shift. I was trying to get up.

I shook my head. Tanya's parents might be oblivious to the world around them, but when they finally realized what was going on around them they made a huge deal about it. It was pretty pathetic that they didn't figure out I was being abused until now. Whenever I was around Tanya and her parents she was hinting to them that I was abused and they never got it.

"Edward, Edward, sit back down," Tanya said loudly as I swung my legs off the side of the bed she wasn't on and got up.

I stood on my shaky legs and walked towards the door. My legs ached instantly and I fought against the wince. "Jasper!" I called as I got to the door. Tanya caught up with me as I opened the door.

Jasper stood there looking surprised and worried. "What's wrong? Edward, go lie back down," he said touching my shoulder.

"Tanya has to call her parents, like now," I said staring at him with wide eyes.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine, I'll get her a phone. Now get your butt back there before I call Esme," he said and I immediately turned and walked back to bed.

Jasper smiled and sent me a look that said, 'park it and keep it there' before exiting the room.

Tanya sat back in her chair and we were silent for a minute. "So… who's Esme?" she asked blankly.

I smiled, "My adopted mom, she's really nice and she does a lot of home decorating," I said thinking of only nice thoughts when I thought of Esme.

Tanya smiled, "Well I'm glad."

We were silent for a moment before I suddenly smiled, "Tanya… I need your opinion on something, and I just want to see if you'll get it…."

Tanya raised an eyebrow at me, "Sure…," she said slowly

I smiled and took out my laptop.

**(Bella's POV)**

As I walked into the hospital I was bombarded by the usual brigade of reporters, all of which wanted to ask me questions and interview me. I walked straight by them.

Today I was feeling a little sick, it was nothing really, just a cold, but it was enough to make me feel like crap. As I walked passed the receptionist desk I nodded to her and she nodded back. I didn't even really need to do the full sign in anymore. I was here enough that they knew where I was going and that I'd be back eventually.

I walked down the hall towards Edward's room. I noticed Jasper and Rose waiting outside. "Hey, what's up?" I asked them; usually they would be inside with Edward.

"Edward has a visitor from Chicago," Rose said looking a little annoyed.

I could feel the surprised look on my face as I looked at Jasper for confirmation. He nodded, "Some girl named Tanya that was his friend back then."

I nodded, "Cool, can I like… go in and meet her?" I asked with a smile. I was curious now. Who really was this Tanya girl?

Rose shrugged, "Sure, nothing's stopping you."

I nodded and walked slowly towards the door. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn red as I knocked softly on the door.

"Who is it?" Edward's voice fluttered through the door.

"It's Bella," I said my hand on the door knob.

"Come in," I heard him say as I opened the door.

Edward sitting with his laptop on his lap, that was usual, and there was a girl there with blonde hair with pale skin and yellowish brown eyes. She looked up at me and smiled. I took notice at Edward's laptop was angled so that she could see what he was doing and she was leaning in a little to see.

I felt an unwelcome flare of jealousy. Edward was showing her something on his laptop, something he'd refused to show me. I knew I shouldn't feel this way, I mean, it was probably nothing, but still!

"Hi, I'm Bella," I said holding out my hand for her to shake. I didn't want to seem rude.

"Tanya, it's a pleasure to meet you, Edward's been talking about you none stop for the last 5 minutes," she said smiling as she shook my hand.

Edward's face turned a little red and he slowly closed his laptop, "Hi Bella, ya, this is my friend Tanya. I used to hang out with her when I lived in Chicago."

I smiled and nodded, "Well, it's great to meet you," I said and bit my lip.

Edward smiled at me and patted the chair beside him on the side Tanya wasn't sitting on. I smiled at him and sat down in the chair. I took his hand in mind and he started rubbing circles in the back of my hand.

"Still fighting the good fight?" Edward asked with a smile.

I grinned, "Yep, my mom is ready to kill me, but that's all okay."

Edward nodded absentmindedly. He seemed to be thinking about something else for a second before he blinked and smiled, "That's good." He paused for a second, "You're sure though, right? I mean… you really want to stop right? You're not just stopping because of…." He frowned. He seemed unable to put the words together.

"Edward, for the thousandth time, I've wanted to quit since I started, and my mom was just too annoying to let me, and so I'm taking control of it," I said and he smiled.

"Well as long as you're sure," he said and looked over at Tanya, "Well… this has been fun…. I think I'm supposed to go back to sleep… again," Edward grumbled.

I smiled, "You're right, now lie down and be quiet, or I'll get Carlisle to sedate you… again," I said threateningly. I knew Edward wanted to get out of here and he was endlessly trying to find ways to escape. Sometimes it was amusing, but most of the time I wanted to strap him down and explain to him that he if kept trying to escape from his bed he could get injured and I would die if that happened.

He sighed and made his bed lie down and grumbled, "When I get out of here… I am going to sleep on anything but a bed for a month."

Tanya and I laughed as we exited the room. Jasper and Rose looked up at us. "Oh, by the way, you can borrow a phone from the front desk," Rose added and Tanya nodded and she was about to leave when Rose added, "Oh, and don't talk to the reporters about Edward."

Tanya raised an eyebrow at her, "Well of course," she said and glanced at me as if to ask what she did to make her angry.

I just shook my head slightly and Tanya smiled, waved at us and departed.

**A/N: Ah yes, so Tanya has magically entered the scene. I just wanted to add before everyone reviews with the same questions that I will have to answer a hundred billion times. Tanya is not a vampire or anything I just didn't feel like getting creative about her eye colour/appearance (because obviously there are no vampires in this story) and she's not going to try and steal Edward. So, as far as I'm concerned, Tanya is actually JUST his friend and they're going to stay like that.**

**And if you're nice you'll click the review button now... and if you're mean you'll click it anyways. lol**

**You know what? Just click the button and write something.  
**


	19. Returning Home

**Chapter 19**

**(Edward's POV)**

Today is the day, the greatest day of days. I get to leave the hospital. It's been one month, two days and 13 hours and 43 minutes. I've been counting. Oh, make that 44 minutes.

Carlisle helped me to my feet and I ignored the slight ache in them. I was ecstatic, but I knew what was waiting for me just beyond the hospital, or maybe they were camped out in the waiting room.

The media was having a field day. They were waiting for me to make my appearance. God, get a life, I'm not that exciting people, I wanted to yell at them, but I wasn't supposed to say anything, just walk right on by.

Carlisle put his arm around me as he led me from the room. We walked down the hall, my legs complaining the whole way.

Bella had met us in the hall and she took my hand on the opposite side. She was in jeans and a t-shirt and she had sun glasses resting on the top of her head. Our friends and family were waiting in the waiting room, with all the reporters, who they weren't speaking to.

When we rounded the corner for the first time I was surrounded by flashing, I blinked, trying to gain back some eye sight.

I closed my eyes and I felt something slide into place from front of my eyes. I opened them slowly and I realized Bella had removed her sun glasses and had placed them on me. She smiled at me and reached up and kissed my cheek. I smiled at her in thanks.

We continued to walk and Emmett jumped up and immediately did the bodyguard thing. He stood with his arms open wide and started to push the media people back. Questions were fired at me and I ignored them, walking with Bella and Carlisle out of the hospital, with our family right behind us.

I looked at the sky and smiled, it was darkened by the glasses, but it was still better than anything I'd had since I had been put in here. I noticed that Carlisle had opened the door to his car and I got in. Bella followed in after me.

I slipped off her sunglasses and handed them back. She smiled and took them from me. I leaned over and kissed her lips softly, "Thanks," I simply said. She blushed and mumbled something I didn't catch.

For the first time in a month the car traveled down familiar roads and we pulled up to the house. I looked at the house in front of me and I rested my head on the window and smiled. I missed my home.

Esme immediately burst from the house when she saw us coming; I knew she was waiting for us. She hadn't been at the hospital when I was leaving. She opened my door and helped me out of the car. I managed to keep myself up on my extremely weak legs.

I put my arm around Bella's waist and she smiled up at me. I didn't put any weight on her, even though I wanted to.

We made it up the stairs and into the house without any problems. Esme fluttered at my side. I got the impression she was waiting for me to collapse or something.

The two girls followed me all the way to the couch, where I promptly sat down and leaned my head against the back of it, closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of having my weight off my legs. I felt Esme rub my arm, "Oh dear, you look so tired," She muttered.

I opened my eyes immediately, "Don't make me sleep!" I said instantly. Emmett, Jasper, Rose and Alice who'd followed us in burst out laughing and I heard Bella's beautiful giggles from my side.

Esme smiled and patted my arm, "Don't worry, Edward, I won't make you sleep, but if you get tired…" She trailed off and I nodded.

"Ya I know Esme," I sighed.

"Hey, y'all it's Friday. Are we going to sit here or go down to Twilight to play?" Emmett jumped up, looking around at us as if he expected us all to jump and cheer.

"I don't know Emmett... it might be a bad idea with Edward's legs right now," Esme said glancing at me.

I looked at Esme with a slight pout, "Please Esme, can we go? I'm so sick of doing nothing. I'll sit on a stool while I sing if I have to," I practically begged.

She sighed and smiled at me slightly, "Fine," she said, "But the second you get tired I want you to come home" She said sternly.

I nodded, a grin on my face, I was so excited to leave the house and go have some fun.

The others called Twilight and told them we were in fact playing tonight and got all ready. Bella helped me upstairs to change clothes. I flopped down on my bed when I got there, completely exhausted from just going up the stairs.

"Edward? Are you sure you're up for this?" Bella asked looking at me with caring eyes.

I motioned for her to lie on my bed with me and she came over and curled into my arms. I kissed her softly for a while, just enjoying the feeling of her in my arms for once.

When we broke away we were both breathing hard. "Bella, please, I really want to do something other than sit around," I said looking her in the eyes.

She sighed, laying her head on my chest, "Okay, but like Esme said. As soon as you're tired you have to tell me, okay?" She stared into my eyes and I smiled.

I nodded and kissed her lips softly, "Of course." I told her and she smiled. She pulled away and I sat up.

"Come on and change, they're waiting." Bella said, "I know, I'll get your shirt and pants for you and you just change. What shirt do you want?" She asked looking around my room blankly.

I laughed, "Its okay Bella, I've got it," I said getting up. I walked over to my dresser and pulled open the drawer with the shirts and pulled out one.

I pulled my shirt up over my head and Bella suddenly exclaimed, "Whoa!"

I turned to her in surprise to find her staring at me. I looked at her in confusion before I realized what she must be looking at. I quickly reached for my clean black t-shirt.

"Wait," Bella said getting up and moving towards me. She looked down my chest at all the scars. "What are they all from?" She asked.

I sighed; I traced a five centimetre scar that went vertical along my ribs on the right side. "Thanksgiving when I was 5, I accidentally knocked over his can of beer," I said I didn't feel the need to tell her how exactly I received the scar. I traced over a scar approximately 2 centimetres on the left side of my waist just before my ribs, "When I was 6 James thought I was being disrespectful so he pulled out his knife, trying to scare me and sliced open my side by accident, supposedly anyways." I rolled my eyes. Bella was staring at my scars. I had quite a few, they were all but white tiny lines now, but they each had their stories. My back was much worse. "My back was from when my dad pushed me through a glass sliding door… I suppose some of the ones on my chest are from that," I mused. My back was a crisscross pattern of odd, crazy jagged white lines. I didn't like taking off my shirt in public much because of it.

I pulled my shirt on, "Whatever, it's all old news. Lots of people know I have them, but not a lot of people have seen them," I shrugged.

"Edward," Bella shook her head. She hugged me tightly, "I am so, so sorry."

I hugged her back, "Come on, the others are waiting," I said and pulled her towards the door.

Downstairs everyone was pretty much ready to go. "Hey, man, you think they'll have a stool for Edward?" Emmett asked as he helped Jasper carry out stuff to the car.

"Probably," Jasper called from inside the garage. I could hear Alice's giggling from inside the garage as well and I rolled my eyes.

I rolled my eyes, "Guys, really? I can probably stand if they don't have one anyways," I said and started out to help them.

"Ah, ah, ah no heavy lifting," Carlisle called as I started towards the garage. I groaned and crossed my arms, pouting angrily because I couldn't help Emmett and Jasper.

Esme, Carlisle, Bella, Alice and Rosalie all laughed at my expression and Bella kissed my cheek. "Come on, ready for your début?" She asked me with a grin.

"It's not really a debut if I've been performing for over a year," I said and she rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean," She said and I smiled.

"Ya, sure, can we go yet?" I called to Jasper and Emmett. I couldn't wait to get out there.

**(Bella's POV)**

Edward was way too energetic for someone who was on the mend from a car accident, but there was no restraining him once we were there. We managed to get backstage without getting seen, thanks to the back entrance mind you.

Backstage Edward sat on the couch they had there for people waiting to go on and his hands patted impatiently against the leather.

"Edward," Jasper hissed at him, "Chill or I'll make Bella go on for you." Edward just grinned and sat on his hands which caused us to snigger quietly.

Adam's voice boomed over everything then, "Hey everybody, welcome back to the stage our regular Friday night band!" Cheers erupted behind the curtains that separated us from the rest of the club. Rosalie and Emmett walked through the curtain after sharing a kiss. Alice kissed Jasper's cheek and handed him the stool that Edward would sit on. Edward got up and I kissed him, "I'll be sitting up in the front row… if you need anything just tell me." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"I'll be fine Bella, I always am," he said grinning. He left through the curtain.

Alice and I went down to the front where our table was reserved. A few people squealed and pointed but it was nothing I wasn't used to, but now they were just as interested in Edward's presence as they were interested in mine.

Edward was singing a personal favourite of mine; he was smiling at me as he sang. He was so happy on stage and I could tell Jasper and Emmett were watching him, but he didn't seem to care. He was sitting in front of keyboard piano but wasn't playing for this song.

He sang every word to me; the words were sweet, so sweet that if I were to taste them my tongue might just fall off. It wasn't so much the words but the feelings that he was showing me behind the words.

The night carried on, most of the songs were fun and carefree with the occasional love song thrown in. Adam came and sat with us and we watched them go on and on.

It was 11:30 when they finally sang the last song. Edward stood up, stretching his legs a little before going to pick up the stool. Jasper beat him to it and smirked at Edward.

Edward managed to get off the stage and made his way over to us. "Hey," He said with a grin.

"Hey Edward, you were awesome," I said kissing his lips.

He smiled, "Thanks Bella," he said.

"Are you tired? Do you want to go home?" I asked worried that he was pushing himself a little too hard.

He shook his head, "I'm fine." He kissed my lips and I saw several flashes in my peripheral vision. We pulled away for a second and I rolled my eyes and he snickered.

"Ignore them, love, their gossip is nothing." He said with a smile that could, and probably did, make stronger girls than I swoon.

I kissed him again and we both ignored the insistent flashing of the cameras. "Come on, I need to get you home, you must be exhausted," I said getting up and pulling him out of the booth.

"If you say so love," Edward said smiling, but I could see the tired look in his eyes. He wasn't used to running around all over the place like this.

I walked him towards the main doors of the club. I would hail a cab since the other didn't want to leave yet. As Edward and I stepped outside I was surrounded by flashing again. Edward rolled his eyes, "When are they going to get that I'm not interesting and you're not a movie star anymore?" he asked with that incredible smile of his.

I shrugged, "They'll figure it out eventually," I said with a smile and I heard questions fired at us, but we ignored them.

We both tried to hail a cab down and one eventually got our attention and pulled up. Edward opened the door for me and held it as I got in. He followed in after me and I told the driver the address to the Cullen residence.

A few minutes later we pulled up at Edward's house and I got out with him and walked him to the door. As we entered I noticed Carlisle was on the phone with a worried expression and Esme sat on the couch looking concerned.

"What's up?" Edward asked his hands in his pockets of his pants.

Esme looked up at Edward in surprise, "Oh good, you're home," She said jumping up. "Where are the others?" She asked when she reached us.

"Oh, the others wanted to stay at the club longer," I explained.

Esme nodded, "Well, they aren't certain, but they've been investigating the crash. It seems that Mr. Masen's body wasn't recovered." She said looking worried.

Edward went so pail that I started to get worried. I led him to the couch. He was silent for a long time, "Excuse me a moment," Edward said suddenly and got up and left the room.

I stared after him. Edward had a weird look in his eyes. It was as if he was thinking something through. I swallowed, I realized that Edward was planning something and I wasn't so sure that I wanted to know what it was.


End file.
